Prosecutors in South Korea have appealed a not guilty verdict for Koo Yun-kyung, the representative of the LG Welfare Foundation and the daughter of the late LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo, and her husband for using undisclosed information to gain unjust profits in stock trading.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office has filed an appeal against the not guilty ruling from the first trial concerning Koo Yun-kyung, the daughter of the late LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo, and her husband. They were charged with using undisclosed information to buy stocks and earn an unfair profit. The couple was accused of having illicitly acquired shares of a bio company listed on the KOSDAQ by acting on important non-public information before it was made public, specifically related to a 50 billion won investment from BlueRun Ventures in the company, where Koo's husband served as Chief Investment Officer.
The court ruled in favor of the couple, stating that there was no direct evidence suggesting that Koo's husband had passed undisclosed information to her and noted that her stock purchases did not seem unusual. The amount of stocks purchased was deemed small in relation to Koo's assets, contributing to the not guilty verdict. This ruling implies significant challenges in proving insider trading cases without clear evidence of information exchange.
In response to the acquittal, prosecutors highlighted the special nature of the couple’s economic and personal relationship, the timing of Koo's first direct stock purchase just after the creation of the undisclosed information, and emphasized that the criteria for judging the use of undisclosed information should not vary with the wealth of the accused. This appeal indicates the prosecutors' commitment to addressing perceived injustices in insider trading regulations and may lead to significant discussions about the efficacy of current legal frameworks in handling such cases.
