A plot worthy of a Hollywood thriller has reached a temporary pause. Lee Jae-Yong, known in the West as Jay Y. Lee is Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, heir to the Samsung empire, and spent almost a full year in prison from 2017-2018 in a scandal which included a bribe consisting of horses to the daughter of a high ranking government official.
The current problem is accusations of accounting fraud in connection with the merger of two Samsung branches, Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T. Put simply, Lee is accused of trying to gather more control of Samsung via stock manipulation, despite he is expected to soon take over the entire business as his father, Lee Kun-hee, has been unable to run the business for the last six years.
According to Nikkei Samsung shares were affected by the news with an up-to 2.4% increase when the Seoul Central District Court denied an arrest warrant for Jay Y. Lee. However, the prosecution seems to be determined to continue the case and still has different options to continue the case.
Nikkei states the value of the merger as being $8 billion,