Jay Y Lee, executive chairman of Samsung Electronics, was acquitted on Monday by a South Korean court of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud related to the merger of Samsung affiliates in 2015.

Prosecutors had demanded five years in jail and a fine of 500 million KRW ($375,000) in the November hearing for Lee over charges of violations of the Capital Markets Act — accounting fraud and stock manipulation connected with an $8 billion merger of Samsung affiliates in 2015. The South Korean prosecutors accused the merger that helped Lee take his control of the Korean tech giant.

Lee denied on the witness stand last November that he had done anything wrong, testifying that the merger and accounting practices were simply normal management activities for the company. He also said that he had never enjoyed personal benefits from the merger and had never tried to damage other shareholders to maximize his stake in Samsung's affiliate.
Prosecutors might still appeal the verdict.
Merger case in 2015
South Korean prosecutors claim that three key takeaways are the following. Lee, vice-chair of Samsung Electronics at that point in 2015, and other executives at the firm inflated the stock price of Cheil Industries, Samsung's textile affiliate, and depressed its construction subsidiary, Samsung C&T, in the merger-which is an illegal process to benefit Lee, as it gives greater control over Samsung Electronics, South Korean prosecutors claimed.

Prosecutors further claimed that the merger exercise depleted the shares of Samsung C&T shareholders.

 Prosecutors also reference a $3.9 billion accounting fraud through Samsung Biologics, the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung, in the same case in which Lee is alleged to have been involved.

"The court concluded that the Samsung C&T and Cheil's merger and accounting of Samsung Biologics were proper," said Lee's lawyer. "I thank the court for their wise decision.".

Earlier, he was convicted of bribing former South Korean president Park Geun-hye in a merger case. Lee, jailed for 18 months between 2017 and 2021, was paroled in 2021 and pardoned by the president in 2022.

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