LG Group's late chairman, Koo Bon-moo's eldest daughter, Koo Yeon-kyung, who is the head of LG Welfare Foundation, and her husband, Yoon Kwan, the CEO of Blue Run Ventures (BRV), have been acquitted in the first trial on charges of acquiring stocks using undisclosed information.
On the 10th, the 13th Criminal Agreement Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Judge Kim Sang-yeon) acquitted Koo and Yoon on charges of violating the Capital Market Act.
The court determined that there was no direct evidence that Yoon had provided undisclosed information to Koo. Furthermore, they acknowledged that Koo's method of purchasing stocks was unusual but explained that she did not realize any profits after buying the stocks and instead donated the entire amount to the LG Welfare Foundation a year later.
Taking these factors into consideration, the court stated that it was difficult to convict based solely on indirect evidence and that the prosecution's case appeared to be based on excessive charges.
Koo and her husband were accused of unfairly profiting by using undisclosed important information related to a capital increase of a bio company, Company A, listed on the KOSDAQ.
The prosecution suspected that Koo acquired 30,000 shares of Company A in 2023 using undisclosed investment attraction information. Company A had announced at the time that it had raised 50 billion won through a third-party allocation capital increase from BRV Capital Management, with Yoon, the CIO of BRV, being the decision-maker for the investment.
In a trial last December, the prosecution demanded a two-year prison sentence and a fine of 50 million won for Yoon, and a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 20 million won with the confiscation of 156.6 million won from Koo. The couple denied sharing or using investment information about Company A.