'EdisonEV Mukti' Corporate Raiders Also Embezzled 700 Billion Won from OTC Stocks

Prosecutors File Additional Charges for Market Manipulation of Unlisted Company

Edison EV (EdisonEV) and Lee Mo (52), a corporate raider and former certified public accountant who was arrested and indicted for stock price manipulation of Diarc, have been additionally prosecuted for meddling in an unlisted company.

The Joint Investigation Division for Financial and Securities Crimes of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Dan Seong-han) indicted Lee, the actual owner of company D, Shin Mo (52), and Lee Mo (49), the registered CEO, on the 20th for manipulating the stock price of unlisted shares of company D.

According to the prosecution, from April to June 2021, they distributed shares of company D they held free of charge to acquaintances in small quantities, then from September to October of the same year, they repurchased those shares at high prices to inflate the stock price. During the two months they repurchased the shares, company D's stock price surged 242 times from 535 won to 129,500 won.

They increased the number of shareholders by distributing free shares and deceived general investors into believing that trading was active. Afterwards, by setting predetermined buy and sell prices through multiple nominee accounts, they traded the shares to make it appear as if company D's stock price and liquidity were healthy, thereby earning profits from price differences (charges of fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act).

The prosecution has identified that through the price manipulation of company D, they earned an unfair profit of 714.7 billion won as of March last year.

All three are currently on trial at the Seoul Southern District Court after being arrested and indicted on July 6 for their involvement in the stock price manipulation of EdisonEV and Diarc.

Lee is a notorious corporate raider in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) industry, who typically acquired listed companies with deteriorating management conditions, spread favorable news to inflate stock prices, and exited quickly within a short period. He deceived investors by making it appear that EdisonEV would acquire Ssangyong Motor, and Diarc falsely announced the development of an ovarian cancer treatment to reap profits from price differences.

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