'Undisclosed Information Use Allegation' Former Constitutional Court Justice Candidate Lee Yoo-jung Also Acquitted in Appeal Trial

Court: "Lack of Specific Information Makes It Difficult to Support Accuracy"

Yoo Jeong Lee, a nominee for the Constitutional Court Justice, is answering questions at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the morning of the 28th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Former Constitutional Court nominee Lee Yoo-jung (54), who was indicted on suspicion of stock trading using undisclosed information, was acquitted again in the appellate court.

The Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Appeal Division 3-2 (Presiding Judge Song Young-hwan) on the 17th dismissed the prosecution's appeal in the second trial of former nominee Lee, who was tried for violating the Capital Markets and Financial Investment Services Act (Capital Markets Act), and upheld the original judgment.

Former nominee Lee was indicted without detention on charges of avoiding financial loss worth approximately 81 million KRW in stock trading by using undisclosed information of the health functional food manufacturing company 'Natural Endotech.'

The stock price of Natural Endotech, in which former nominee Lee invested, soared to 91,000 KRW on April 9, 2015, but began to plummet on April 22 of the same month due to the 'Fake Baeksuo Incident,' falling below 10,000 KRW within about a month.

Many investors suffered significant losses during this process, but nominee Lee sold a large amount of stocks before the sharp decline in stock price, avoiding losses. Natural Endotech was a client of 'Law Firm One,' to which former nominee Lee belonged.

Lee, who was nominated as a Constitutional Court justice candidate in 2017, resigned amid controversy after it was revealed before the confirmation hearing that he had earned a large amount of capital gains through stock investments.

The court stated, "There was no specificity regarding the source, creation, or acquisition process of the information, so it is unclear whether the information was accurate, and there was no supporting evidence," and ruled that the original court's judgment that it was not undisclosed important information under the Capital Markets Act was appropriate.

Earlier, the prosecution indicted former nominee Lee on the grounds that he obtained undisclosed information related to Natural Endotech while performing lawyer duties, but the first trial court judged that this information did not constitute important information under the Capital Markets Act and acquitted him in January last year.

The first trial court judged regarding the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety information, "The inspection results and announcement timing by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety are difficult to know accurately from outside until the Ministry officially discloses them, and since the Ministry did not officially disclose the inspection results and announcement timing or notify Natural Endotech, it inevitably contains ambiguity and uncertainty."

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