SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) — The Supreme Court is set to deliver the final verdict on Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong next month, as he was acquitted in both the first and second trials on charges related to a 2015 merger case, sources said Thursday.
The ruling, scheduled for July 17, comes four years and 10 months after Lee was first brought to trial and about five months after the appellate court upheld his acquittal.
Lee was indicted in September 2020 on charges of unfair trading, stock price manipulation and accounting fraud during the 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates, Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp.
In February 2024, a lower court found him not guilty on all 19 charges, and the appellate court affirmed the ruling earlier this year.
Prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the merger and other alleged irregularities were intended to help Lee solidify control of South Korea’s largest conglomerate at minimal cost.
This file photo shows Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong attending a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung and a group of business leaders at the presidential office in Seoul on June 13, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
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