Court Grants Bail to Bae Jae-hyun, Former Kakao Head of Investment, on Allegations of Market Manipulation

Former Kakao Chief Investment Officer Bae Jae-hyun, who was arrested and indicted on charges of market manipulation during the management rights dispute at SM Entertainment, was released on bail on the 6th.

According to the legal community on the same day, the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 15 (Presiding Judge Yang Hwan-seung) accepted Bae's bail request.

Bae Jae-hyun, Head of Investment at Kakao. [Photo by Yonhap News]

At the trial held the previous day, Bae said, "I was detained without preparation and it has been almost five months, but the trial is being delayed, so it is personally difficult," adding, "I have resigned from all positions as an inside director and affiliate director at the company and am going through very difficult days," appealing for bail approval.

Bae was arrested and indicted in November last year on charges of conspiring with Kim Sung-soo, CEO of Kakao Entertainment, and Lee Junho, Head of Kakao Entertainment's Investment Strategy Division, to manipulate the stock price of SM Entertainment during the acquisition process in February last year. The alleged purpose was to set and fix the SM Entertainment stock price higher than the public tender offer price of 120,000 won by competitor HYBE to obstruct HYBE's public tender offer.

The prosecution believes that Bae and others conspired with One Asia Partners and mobilized about 240 billion won to accumulate SM Entertainment shares on the market, purchasing at high prices a total of 533 times.

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