Seoul: A special counsel team on Friday indicted a key figure in a stock price manipulation scheme possibly involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee. The team led by special counsel Min Joong-ki said it indicted Lee Ki-hoon, former vice chairman of Sambu Construction, with physical detention, on charges of violating the Capital Market Act by manipulating the construction company's stock prices in 2023.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Lee is accused of reaping 36.9 billion won (US$26 million) in illegal profits through the scheme, which the special counsel team suspects was aided by the former first lady. Sambu Construction's stock price rose sharply around the time she and her husband, then President Yoon Suk Yeol, visited Ukraine in July 2023, where the company had claimed to be eyeing its participation in reconstruction projects.
Kim's close associate was also found to have messaged a group chat at the time to "check" Sambu Construction. Lee was detained in the southwestern city of Mokpo on Sept. 10, nearly two months after fleeing to avoid arrest.