Koo Yeon-kyung, head of the LG Welfare Foundation, who was indicted on charges of buying a bio corporations' stock using nonpublic information and was acquitted at the first trial, denied the charges again in the appeals court.
At the first appeals hearing on charges of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, held on the 20th before the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 4-3 (Presiding Judges Jeon Ji-won, Kim In-gyeom and Seong Ji-yong), Koo said, in effect, that it was "not an investment using nonpublic, material information," and stated accordingly.
Prosecutors argued that the first-trial ruling was based on a misapprehension of facts and a misunderstanding of the law. Prosecutors said, "In light of the circumstantial evidence, BlueRun Ventures (BRV) head Yoon Gwan conveyed nonpublic information to Koo, and it is recognized that Koo bought the shares based on that information."
In response, regarding the circumstances of the stock purchase, Koo said there was "an opportunity to meet the chair of a company who had been a sworn brother to the father-in-law," and added that "a person with extensive medical knowledge who also makes many related investments said it was the 'only treatment for aftereffects of pediatric heart surgery' and told me to watch Company A, which led me to buy the stock." Asked by the bench whether husband Yoon was present at the time, Koo answered, "I don't remember."
Koo and Yoon are accused of acquiring shares using nonpublic, material information related to a paid-in capital increase by Company A, a KOSDAQ-listed bio corporations. Prosecutors believe Koo received undisclosed fundraising information from Yoon and bought 30,000 shares of Company A in Apr. 2023.
Company A develops new drugs to treat rare heart diseases and, at the time, raised 50 billion won from BRV Capital Management through a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase. Yoon, the chief investment officer (CIO) at BRV, was the person who decided on the investment.
Earlier, in Feb., the first trial acquitted both, finding that there was insufficient direct evidence that Yoon conveyed nonpublic information to Koo and that Koo's method of placing stock purchase orders was not particularly unusual.
The bench will hold one more hearing on July 8.