Supreme Court Confirms Not Guilty Verdict for Former Constitutional Court Nominee Lee Yoo-jung on 'Insider Trading' Charges

Former Constitutional Court Justice Candidate Yoo Jeong Lee.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The acquittal of former Constitutional Court nominee Lee Yoo-jung, who was prosecuted for avoiding financial loss through stock trading using undisclosed information, has been finalized.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) upheld the lower court's verdict acquitting Lee Yoo-jung and others in the appeal trial on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.

The court stated, "The 'information related to the inspection results from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety' received by the defendant from the company's CEO cannot be regarded as undisclosed material information with the required level of accuracy or sufficiently specific to be considered of significant value in decision-making regarding securities trading," adding, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution, it cannot be proven that the information qualifies as undisclosed material information under the Capital Markets Act."

Lee Yoo-jung was indicted on charges of purchasing 10,000 shares of Natural Endotech, a health functional food manufacturer, five months before its listing in 2013, and then selling the shares before the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's inspection results were released in 2015, thereby avoiding a loss of 81 million won.

At that time, Natural Endotech's stock price soared to 91,000 won on April 2015 but plummeted to below 10,000 won within about a month due to the "Fake Baeksuo Scandal."

While many investors suffered significant losses during this period, Lee Yoo-jung sold the shares before the price crash and avoided losses. The prosecution judged that Lee was able to avoid losses by using undisclosed information obtained while working as a lawyer at the law firm Won, which was handling the Natural Endotech case.

Earlier, the first and second trial courts also acquitted Lee Yoo-jung, stating, "The inspection result information obtained by the defendant from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety cannot be regarded as undisclosed material information with the required level of accuracy or sufficiently specific to be considered of significant value in decision-making regarding securities trading."

The Supreme Court also found no legal error in the lower court's judgment and dismissed the prosecution's appeal.

Lee Yoo-jung was nominated as a Constitutional Court justice candidate in 2017 but voluntarily withdrew after controversy arose over the revelation that she had earned a large amount of speculative gains through stock investments.

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