Former Black Pearl Invest CEO Lee Jong-ho, who was brought to trial on charges of taking money in exchange for promising to exert influence over a trial, was also sentenced to prison on appeal. However, the sentence was reduced from the first trial because the court found that some of the offenses did not fall within the scope of the special counsel investigation into Kim Keon-hee.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-han) on the 16th sentenced the former CEO, indicted on charges of violating the Attorney‑at‑Law Act, to one year and two months in prison and ordered a forfeiture of 71.1 million won. The sentence is four months shorter and the forfeiture 8 million won less than the first trial's one year and six months in prison and 79.1 million won forfeiture.
Lee was brought to trial on charges of approaching Lee Jeong-pil, known as the "first main player" in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case, deceiving him by saying he would secure a suspended sentence instead of a prison term in the criminal trial, and taking a little over 80 million won in 25 installments from June 2022 to February 2023.
The appeals court did not accept the former CEO's argument that the case fell outside the special counsel's investigative scope. The court found that, in the process of verifying suspicions related to the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case and First Lady Kim Keon-hee, investigating this case was necessary, and because the submitted evidence was indirect and circumstantial evidence obtained during that investigation, it could be viewed as a related case.
However, for some charges that money was taken under the pretext of quashing Lee's personal corruption case, the court dismissed the indictment, finding no direct connection to either the first lady or the Deutsch Motors case. With this portion excluded from criminal proceeds, both the sentence and the forfeiture amount were reduced.
In explaining the sentence, the court placed particular weight on the damage to trust in the judiciary. The court said, "If trial proceedings are suspected to be swayed not by the realization of justice but by improper external influence, or, in the extreme, the temptation of money, the mere existence of that suspicion shakes the rule of law and causes fatal harm to the fairness of criminal procedure."
The court also noted that the former CEO received money by touting connections with the president, the first lady, the chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), and judges, saying, "It undermined the independence and fairness of the courts—the last bastion of the rule of law—and public confidence in judges' performance of their duties."
The court cited as unfavorable that he was uncooperative during the investigation and stuck to implausible explanations in the first trial. However, it considered favorable that, on appeal, he showed a repentant attitude and returned all the money he had received from Lee.