Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y Lee was cleared of all charges related to accounting fraud and stock manipulation by South Korea’s Supreme Court, marking a major legal victory for the billionaire head of the world’s largest electronics empire.
The top court on Thursday upheld a Seoul High Court ruling that acquitted Lee and other Samsung officials of all 19 charges stemming from the 2015 merger of Samsung C&T Corp. and Cheil Industries Inc. Prosecutors alleged the deal helped Lee cement his control over the conglomerate.
The decision ends a years-long legal saga that had cast a shadow over the leadership of South Korea’s biggest conglomerate. It will also allow the company to focus on revitalizing its business and try to reclaim its position as a leading supplier of the advanced chips driving the artificial revolution just as US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose crippling duties on chip exports.
South Korean prosecutors in 2023 sought a five-year prison sentence along with a 500 million won ($362,000) fine for Lee. However, a Seoul district court in February 2024 ruled in Lee’s favor. A year later, the Seoul High Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s decision, clearing Lee of all charges.
The case had been ongoing since 2020.
Samsung Group shares rose Thursday following the verdict. Samsung Electronics shares rose as much as 2.3% while Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd shares jumped as much as 3.1%.
“Today’s final ruling by the Supreme Court has clearly confirmed that the merger of Samsung C&T and the accounting treatment of Samsung Biologics were lawful,” Samsung’s legal counsel said in a statement.
The acquittal lifts a weight off the world’s largest maker of memory chips and displays, which has been battling intense competition. Domestic rival SK Hynix Inc. has stolen a march over Samsung in the race to supply cutting edge chips for the development of AI.
Korea has expressed deep concerns over Washington’s proposal to levy import duties on semiconductors, with Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo warning this week that such duties could deal a significant blow to one of the nation’s key export industries.
Lee, 57, was embroiled for years in legal struggles that rocked the tech establishment and triggered a political scandal that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. But Lee secured a presidential pardon in 2022 from the graft charges, allowing him to formally take the helm of the conglomerate that his grandfather created in 1938.
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