Prosecutors File Additional Embezzlement Charges Against Optimus CEO Kim Jaehyun and Two Others

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] Kim Jae-hyun, CEO of Optimus Asset Management (hereinafter Optimus), who is on trial for fund fraud charges, and other executives have been additionally indicted on embezzlement charges.

The Economic Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Joo Min-cheol) announced on the 19th that Kim, the CEO of Optimus, Lee Dong-yeol, the second largest shareholder and director (45), and lawyer Yoon Seok-ho (43), also a director, were additionally indicted on embezzlement charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

According to the prosecution, in June 2020, Kim and others embezzled 29.5 billion KRW that Optimus had invested in its parent company and arbitrarily used it for repaying private loans and other purposes.

Additionally, Kim was newly charged with using 50.85 billion KRW of fund money for personal investments such as futures options trading between 2018 and 2020.

Kim and others were previously arrested and indicted along with Yoo Mo, an advisor at Skin & Skin, on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for deceiving about 2,900 investors from April 2018 to June this year by promising to invest in public institution-commissioned construction project receivables, and embezzling over 1.2 trillion KRW related to the Optimus redemption suspension incident in July last year.

Subsequently, the Economic Crime Criminal Division, which took over the investigation from the Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, expanded the probe into Optimus's alleged political and governmental lobbying. It was revealed that Lee Jin-ah, former Blue House administrator and wife of lawyer Yoon, held about 10% of Optimus's shares and was also listed in Optimus's affiliated companies.

The prosecution's investigation into Optimus's political and governmental lobbying allegations is still ongoing.

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