Prosecutors searched securities firms in connection with the so-called "stock manipulation ruin-your-life case No. 1," in which wealthy individuals and former and current employees of financial companies allegedly conspired to rig share prices and pocketed hundreds of billions of won in illicit gains.
According to the legal community and the financial investment industry on the 19th, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office's Joint Investigation Team on Financial and securities Crimes executed search warrants that day at NH Investment & Securities, KB Securities, and Kyobo Securities, among others. They were said to have checked details of financial transactions.
Prosecutors also searched DI Dongil on the 5th. After completing analysis of the evidence obtained through the searches, prosecutors are expected to summon for questioning those suspected of involvement in stock manipulation.
The case became known when the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission filed a complaint with prosecutors against 11 individuals—including wealthy figures who run general hospitals and large academies, an asset management firm executive, and a branch manager at a financial company—and four related corporations for alleged violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, including market manipulation and unfair transaction practices.
They are suspected of raising more than 100 billion won in price rigging funds by mobilizing corporate funds they managed and loans from financial companies, then manipulating the price of DI Dongil, which has low daily transaction volume. They are estimated to have reaped about 40 billion won in illicit gains through this.
The case is being called the Joint Response Team's "stock manipulation ruin-your-life" case No. 1, launched after President Lee Jae-myung emphasized eradicating unfair transactions.