Prosecutors Arrest and Indict Jeong Young-je, Key Accomplice in Optimus Fund Fraud Case

Optimus Asset Management office, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The prosecution investigating the Optimus Asset Management (Optimus) fund fraud case has indicted and detained Jeong Young-je, the former CEO of Optimus Alternative Investments and a key accomplice in the Optimus case.

On the 14th, the Economic Crime Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Joo Min-cheol) indicted Jeong on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Jeong was regarded as a key 'keyman' who could reveal the suspicions of political and business lobbying by the Optimus management.

Jeong is accused of conspiring with Kim Jae-hyun, CEO of Optimus (indicted and detained), and others from June 2017 to March 2018 to deceive the Korea Communications Agency into believing they were investing in public institution sales receivables, thereby embezzling approximately 106 billion KRW in investment funds.

He is also charged with receiving 144 million KRW from Yoo Hyun-kwon, an advisor at Skin&Skin known as an architect of Optimus, under the pretext of solicitation or mediation to attract investment funds.

Jeong, who went into hiding to evade the prosecution's investigation immediately after the Optimus management was detained at the end of July, was arrested at a pension in a provincial area on the 25th of last month and has been under investigation in custody since then.

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