"Lime Scandal" Begins Legal Battle... Full-Scale Trials Start This Week

First Trial of Former Shinhan Investment Corp. Head Lim Mo on the 13th

Former Lime Alternative Investment Operations Head on the 20th
Former Blue House Administrative Officer on the 24th to Face Trial Sequentially

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The prosecution's investigation into Lime Asset Management's suspension of redemptions on funds worth approximately 1.6 trillion won has entered its third month. As the custody of key suspects has been secured one after another, prosecutions have continued, and trials against them have officially begun this week.

On the 13th, the 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Shin Hyuk-jae) held the first trial session for Im, former head of Shinhan Financial Investment (Shinhan Fintoo). Shinhan Fintoo is known to have concealed the fact that Lime's trade finance funds had become insolvent and sold them alongside Lime. Former head Im is charged with violating the Capital Markets Act by conspiring with Lee Jong-pil, former vice president of Lime, to sell three trade finance funds worth approximately 48 billion won without informing investors of potential losses.

Earlier, on the 11th, the first trial was held for executives of Esmo, a KOSDAQ-listed company and one of Lime's investment targets. They are accused of acquiring Esmo through a no-capital merger and acquisition (M&A) method, manipulating the stock price to inflate it, and then selling at a high price to gain about 8.3 billion won in capital gains.

Former vice president Lee and Kim, former head of Lime's alternative investment management division, who managed Lime's alternative investments, will face trial on the 20th. Former head Kim is accused of purchasing convertible bonds (CB) issued by Star Mobility using funds from Lime funds whose redemptions were suspended, and assisting former Star Mobility chairman Kim Bong-hyun in acquiring the Veterans Association funeral service company with those funds. Additionally, Kim, a former Blue House administrator and hometown friend of former chairman Kim, will appear in court on the 24th. The former administrator was arrested and indicted on the 1st for accepting bribes worth about 36 million won from former chairman Kim and leaking internal documents from the Financial Supervisory Service related to the Lime investigation.

Meanwhile, separate from the trials, the prosecution's investigation is also accelerating. On the 13th, Kim and his group of corporate raiders, who received about 100 billion won in Lime fund support to acquire listed companies such as Esmo Materials and embezzled 47 billion won from these companies, were arrested.

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