‘Fund Rollover’ Lee Jong-pil, Former Vice President of Lime, Disagrees with First Trial Verdict... Files Appeal

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Lee Jong-pil, former vice president of Lime Asset Management (Lime), who was sentenced to prison for investing in a 'Ponzi scheme' to cover up Lime's insolvency, has appealed the first trial verdict.

According to the Seoul Southern District Court on the 13th, Lee, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust), submitted an appeal to the court the day before. The appeal trial is scheduled to be held at the Seoul High Court.

Earlier, the 12th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Sang-yong) held the first trial sentencing hearing on the 8th and sentenced Lee to 10 years in prison and a fine of 300 million won. Additionally, a confiscation order of 76,767,852 won was also issued.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, “The defendant had an obligation to conduct financial investment business fairly but accepted bribes, thereby abandoning the integrity expected of a financial investment professional, which is a very serious offense,” and “His irresponsible fund management led to the suspension of redemptions in Lime Asset Management funds.”

The court acquitted Lee of some of the prosecution’s charges. Previously, during the prosecution’s closing arguments, it was stated, “Considering the scale of the damage, the case is serious, and the defendant concealed investment losses to attract new investments. The amount defrauded from investors and the breach of trust damage reached hundreds of billions of won, and he obtained private benefits,” requesting a sentence of 15 years in prison, a fine of 4 billion won, and a confiscation order of approximately 1.88668 billion won.

Lee and others were prosecuted on charges of causing losses to Lime through a 'Ponzi scheme' investment by acquiring convertible bonds (CB) of listed company A, in which Lime had invested 20 billion won, at 20 billion won after A’s auditor issued a disclaimer of opinion, fearing that Lime’s investment losses would be disclosed.

They also face charges of causing losses by acquiring CBs of four listed companies, including A, which had already become insolvent and worthless, at inflated prices using 90 billion won of Lime’s funds.

Meanwhile, Lee was indicted on charges of setting up and selling 18 Lime trade finance funds worth about 200 billion won by deceiving investors into believing he would directly invest without disclosing the insolvency of overseas trade funds. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 4 billion won in the first trial. The appeal trial for this case is currently underway.

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