‘Insider Trading’ Moon Eun-sang, CEO of SillaJen, Arrested

"Evidence Tampering and Flight Risk"...Warrant Issued
Red Light for ShillaJen Operations and New Drug Development

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Moon Eun-sang, CEO of the bio company Sillajen, who is accused of trading stocks using undisclosed information, has been detained.

Seong Bo-gi, the warrant judge at the Seoul Southern District Court, held a pre-arrest detention hearing for CEO Moon and issued an arrest warrant on the 12th, stating there is a risk of evidence destruction and flight, as requested by the prosecution.

When CEO Moon appeared at the court around 10:30 a.m. the previous day and was asked by reporters, "You recently posted an appeal on the homepage, but do you still deny the allegations?" he briefly replied, "I will speak in court."

Earlier, the Financial Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Seo Jeong-sik) filed an arrest warrant request on the 8th against CEO Moon on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act (fraudulent unfair trading) and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

CEO Moon is known to be accused of using internal company information to sell a large amount of stocks before publicly announcing the suspension of clinical trials for 'Pexa-Vec,' an immuno-oncology drug candidate developed by Sillajen, thereby avoiding significant losses.

Sillajen's stock price once soared on expectations for Pexa-Vec's development but plummeted after the suspension of clinical trials was announced.

CEO Moon is also suspected of improperly acquiring company shares by acquiring bonds with warrants (BW) through a paper company without capital.

Meanwhile, the arrest warrant for Mr. A, the representative of the paper company allegedly used by CEO Moon in the improper acquisition of company shares, was dismissed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.