Gu Yeon-kyung, the daughter of the late Koo Bon-moo, former chairman of LG Group, and her husband Yoon Kwan, CEO of BlueRun Ventures (BRV), were acquitted again in an appeals court on charges of insider trading involving undisclosed information about a bio company.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 4-3, led by judges Jeon Ji-won, Kim In-gyeom, and Seong Ji-yong, dismissed the prosecution's appeal on November 11, upholding the initial ruling of not guilty on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.
The couple faced allegations of illegally profiting from undisclosed information regarding a third-party allocation of shares in Mezzion, a KOSDAQ-listed bio company. At the time, Mezzion announced it had secured an investment of 50 billion won from BRV Capital Management, with Yoon serving as the chief decision-maker for that investment. Prosecutors claimed that Gu received advance notice of the investment from her husband and purchased 35,990 shares of Mezzion, valued at approximately 650 million won, just before the information was made public, resulting in a profit of over 100 million won.
However, the appeals court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Yoon had conveyed undisclosed information to Gu or that she had used it to make stock purchases.
The court acknowledged that there were suspicious circumstances, such as Mezzion's history of prolonged losses and high stock volatility, as well as Gu's lack of investment experience prior to her large purchase immediately after the information was generated. These factors raised questions about the possibility of her receiving information from Yoon.
Nonetheless, the court stated, "Even if there are ambiguous points regarding the defendants, they cannot serve as direct evidence to support the charges. It is difficult to reasonably explain why, despite having significant financial resources, only a portion of the funds was invested when a stock price increase was anticipated upon the disclosure of the information."
Additionally, the court noted that Gu's act of openly sharing her stock purchases with colleagues shortly after the acquisition was inconsistent with the intent to gain illicit profits.
Previously, the first trial court also ruled that there was no direct evidence proving that Yoon had conveyed undisclosed information to Gu and that the manner of purchase was not unusual, leading to a not guilty verdict.
The prosecution is expected to review the appeals court's ruling to determine whether to file a further appeal.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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