충청북도 청주에 위치한 에코프로비엠 본사. (사진=에코프로비엠)

[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Prosecutors and financial authorities have launched a forced investigation after it was revealed that former and incumbent executives and employees of KOSDAQ-listed "Ecopro" engaged in stock trading using undisclosed information.

The joint investigation team on financial securities crimes at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office and the special judicial police at the Financial Services Commission said on the 18th that they confiscated internal documents and computer storage data at Ecopro's headquarters in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on the 16th ∼ 17th.

It is the second time for the prosecution to investigate allegations of unfair trade involving executives and employees of Ecopro. Prosecutors and financial authorities reportedly found additional circumstantial evidence that former and incumbent executives and employees of Ecopro gained unfair profits after trading stocks using undisclosed information between 2020 and 2021.

Ecopro's stock price, called 'KOSDAQ representative stock', jumped from 100,000 won at the end of last year to 400,000 won recently. It jumped 360% in less than three months from the lowest price (December 29 last year, 102,700 won) to the highest price (16th, 472,500 won).

 

Former EcoPro Chairman Lee Dong-chae was indicted in May last year on charges of violating the Main Market Act and the Criminal Profit Concealment Punishment Act, and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and a fine of 3.5 billion won in the first trial.

As there was also a three-digit surge in 2020 and 2021, when they are believed to have gained unfair profits, the capital gains obtained by former and incumbent executives and employees are expected to be large if the unfair trade turns out to be true.

Ecopro is a secondary battery company, down 8.79% from the trading day before the 17th, closing at 399,550 won. 

 

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