Prosecution Launches Investigation into Homeplus Management Fraud Allegations Filed by Four Securities Firms

Assigned to Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3
Four Securities Firms: "Repayment Responsibility Shifted to Investors"

The prosecution has launched a full-scale investigation into the case in which four securities firms that issued and sold Homeplus bonds filed a lawsuit against Homeplus and its management on charges including fraud.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

According to the legal community on the 3rd, the prosecution assigned the case involving Homeplus and its management's alleged violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud) to the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 3 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Seung-hak) and has begun reviewing it.

Earlier, on the 1st, four securities firms?Shinyoung Securities, Hana Securities, Hyundai Motor Securities, and Eugene Investment & Securities?filed a lawsuit against Homeplus and its management, claiming that Homeplus, despite knowing the possibility of a credit rating downgrade, tacitly allowed the issuance of 'Asset-Backed Short-Term Bonds based on Card Receivables' (ABSTB) and then abruptly filed for corporate rehabilitation procedures, shifting the repayment responsibility onto investors.

Shinyoung Securities issued the ABSTB just before Homeplus's credit rating was downgraded, while the other three firms distributed them in the market.

According to the office of Kang Min-guk, a member of the People Power Party, as of the 3rd of last month, out of the total short-term bond sales balance of 594.9 billion KRW for Homeplus corporate paper (CP), asset-backed electronic short-term bonds (ABSTB), and electronic short-term bonds, 207.5 billion KRW worth was sold to individual investors through securities firms and others.

According to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service, the issuance scale of Homeplus ABSTB is 401.9 billion KRW, of which 177.7 billion KRW was purchased by individual investors.

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