Prosecutors: "Ra Deok-yeon’s trades aimed at stock price defense, no impact on plunge"

The prosecution investigating the 'SG Securities-induced stock price crash' submitted a statement to the court expressing the opinion that the trades made by CEO Ra Deok-yeon (42) and his associates for the purpose of defending the stock price did not affect the stock price crash.

On the 24th, the 11th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Do-seong) held the fourth trial session for CEO Ra and his associates, who were indicted on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, and announced that the prosecution had submitted a statement the previous day. The statement included reasons for determining the end date of CEO Ra and his associates' market manipulation activities as April 21.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Through the statement, the prosecution explained why the 'end date' for unjust profits was set as April 21, the trading day just before the crash. The prosecution stated, "According to precedent, in cases of market manipulation, the last day of trading is used as the basis for calculating unjust profits," and added, "The stock price crash on April 24 was due to market conditions beyond the orders placed by CEO Ra and his associates."

Furthermore, the prosecution said, "The stock price defense orders by CEO Ra and his associates differed from the previous forms of market manipulation and had no actual impact on the market," and therefore, the period during which market manipulation occurred was calculated up to April 21, when unjust profits were obtained.

The prosecution acknowledged the charges that CEO Ra and his associates artificially inflated the stock prices of eight companies, including Dow Data, but maintained that the trades aimed at defending the stock price after the mass limit-down incident began on April 24 were unrelated to the crash.

The prosecution is also investigating the causes of the crash following the indictment of CEO Ra and his associates. In particular, they are accelerating the investigation into former Dow Kiwoom Chairman Kim Ik-rae (73), who has been pointed out as responsible for the crash.

The day before, the prosecution conducted a search and seizure at Korea Securities Finance related to former Chairman Kim and reportedly secured materials including records of loans Kim obtained using Dow Data stocks as collateral.

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