One Year Since the Restoration of the Prosecutors' Securities Crime Joint Task Force: 373 Indicted and 1.6 Trillion KRW Recovered in Asset Preservation

After restoring the Joint Investigation Unit for Financial and Securities Crimes, the prosecution has brought over 370 individuals involved in unfair trading to trial over the past year. The prosecution also took measures to confiscate criminal proceeds amounting to approximately 1.63 trillion won.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 6th, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office announced that since the launch of the Joint Investigation Unit for Financial and Securities Crimes in July last year until last month, a total of 373 individuals involved in unfair trading were indicted, with 48 of them detained. The related criminal proceeds totaling 1.6387 trillion won were subject to confiscation measures.

The 'Joint Investigation Unit for Securities Crimes' was abolished in January 2020 during the tenure of Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae. Subsequently, the 'Joint Investigation Unit for Financial and Securities Crimes,' launched in May last year at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office to address market manipulation, fraudulent unfair trading, and other offenses, was formally institutionalized as the Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Division (합수부) in May this year. A dedicated investigation department was established under the division.

The prosecution evaluated that since the restoration of the joint investigation unit, rapid direct investigations into financial and securities crimes have become possible, and specialized investigative personnel from related agencies have been stably secured.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Joint Investigation Unit mainly investigated ▲stock price manipulation through no-capital mergers and acquisitions (M&A) ▲other stock price manipulation and unfair trading offenses ▲fraudulent use of convertible bonds ▲new types of crimes such as virtual asset crimes.

Major investigations into stock price manipulation through M&A include cases involving Edison EV and other stock manipulation groups, the PHC stock manipulation case, and corporate corruption cases such as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Construction. Other unfair trading cases include the SG-induced stock price crash incident, the mass limit-down incident involving five stocks, and illegal leading room cases.

Cases involving fraudulent use of convertible bonds include fraudulent unfair trading cases such as Vidente, while new types of crimes related to virtual assets include the Terra Luna case and the Coinone listing corruption case.

The prosecution stated, "We have strictly punished professional stock manipulation groups, corporate raiders, and financial brokers involved in traditional financial crimes, and swiftly formed investigation teams to respond immediately to stock price crashes caused by market manipulation through collaboration with financial authorities."

They also plan to strictly respond to new types of crimes related to virtual assets, which have recently become a social issue. A prosecution official stated, "We will actively respond to crimes related to virtual assets to ensure there is no gap in punishment until the enforcement of the Virtual Asset Act, which recently passed the National Assembly."

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