Arrest Warrants Issued for Optimus CEO and 3 Others... Full-Scale Asset Recovery Following Accounting Audit Begins

Charges Filed for Violations Including the Capital Markets Act

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[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Jihwan Park] The prosecution investigating the Optimus Asset Management case, which caused a fund redemption suspension worth hundreds of billions of won, has requested arrest warrants for four individuals, including CEO Kim Jaehyun (50), on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.

On the 6th, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Investigation Division 1 (Chief Prosecutor Oh Hyuncheol) announced that it had requested arrest warrants around 11:50 p.m. the previous day for Kim, the second-largest shareholder and private bond issuer CEO Lee (45), Optimus director and H Law Firm’s chief attorney Yoon (43), and another accomplice Song (50) on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act, fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, forgery of private documents, and use of forged private documents.

On the 4th, the prosecution executed arrest warrants for Kim and Lee, secured their custody, and conducted additional investigations over the weekend. Pre-arrest warrants were requested for Yoon and Song. Kim and others are suspected of raising hundreds of billions of won from investors by claiming to invest in public institution sales receivables, but in reality, they allegedly forged documents and invested in loan companies and insolvent firms. The Korea Securities Depository was found to have recorded bonds of loan companies included in the fund assets as if they were bonds of public enterprises while preparing the fund asset statement, which has become a subject of investigation. Securities firms such as NH Investment & Securities, which sold the fund, filed a complaint with the prosecution on the 22nd of last month against Optimus executives for fraud and other charges, and the Financial Supervisory Service also requested an investigation.

During searches of 18 locations including Optimus headquarters on the 24th and 25th of last month, the prosecution detected signs that Optimus had systematically attempted to destroy evidence by replacing PC hard disks in advance. The pre-trial detention hearing for Kim and others is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on the 7th, presided over by Chief Judge Choi Changhoon of the Seoul Central District Court’s warrant division. Originally, the hearing for Kim and Lee was scheduled for 3 p.m. on the same day, but the court postponed it to hold the hearing together with accomplices such as Yoon.

Separately from the prosecution’s investigation, asset recovery procedures for Optimus are also being actively pursued. Since the 2nd, Samil Accounting Corporation, NH Investment & Securities, and the Financial Supervisory Service have held meetings regarding the due diligence plan for the Optimus fund and have begun the asset due diligence process.

The initial fund due diligence will focus on verifying the existence of actual investment targets and related realities. A Financial Supervisory Service official explained, "Due diligence consists of two main parts: verifying existence and conducting valuation. Basically, we confirm whether the assets listed in the fund statement actually exist, and then proceed with valuation of the remaining assets." Through valuation, the amount of investors’ losses as of a specific point in time will be determined.

Industry experts analyze that Optimus’s fund structure is simpler than Lime Asset Management’s, so the accounting due diligence period may be shorter. Previously, Lime’s due diligence took four months from November last year to February this year. Considering that July and August are vacation months, the general consensus is that the due diligence results will be available by the end of this year.

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