[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] The heads of Samsung Electronics, LG Group, and SK Group are showing 'judicial risks' one after another.

According to the business community on the 20th, the prosecution sentenced Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was indicted on charges of unfair merger and accounting fraud, to five years in prison and a fine of 500 million won. Chairman Lee's trial of the unfair merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries will be completed three years and two months after his indictment in September 2020, leaving only his sentence on Jan. 26 next year. However, judicial risks are expected to continue in the future as both sides are likely to appeal depending on the outcome of the trial.

There is a possibility that Chairman Lee, who was reinstated as a special pardon for the August 15 Liberation Day last year, may be restricted from management activities again depending on the outcome of the trial. Chairman Lee has been suffering from judicial risks for eight years, including a total of 565 days in prison on two occasions over the 2016 state affairs manipulation scandal.

Perhaps due to this effect, Samsung Electronics has not pushed for special large-scale mergers and acquisitions (M & A) for six years since it acquired U.S. automotive electronics maker Harman for 9 trillion won in 2017.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won have also recently faced ongoing litigation-related issues. In the case of LG, it was revealed that the three mother and daughter, who filed a lawsuit against Koo to split their inherited assets earlier this year, intended to participate in the management.

Previously, 11.28% of LG's stake in Koo Bon-moo's legacy was divided into 8.76% for Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, 2.01% for CEO Koo Yeon-kyung and 0.51% for Koo Yeon-soo.

LG sees it as an attempt to shake up management control under the pretext of property division and forewarns a firm response.

SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won, who is on a business trip abroad to host the 2030 World Expo (Expo) in Busan, is facing a divorce suit against Roh So-young, director of the art center Butterfly.

At the first hearing for the divorce suit on the 9th, Director Roh met with reporters and said, "It is terrible for my 30 years of marriage to end like this." In a media interview on the 11th, he said, "Those who break other people's families should be punished."

In December last year, the first trial court accepted Roh's request for divorce and ruled that Choi should pay Roh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in cash in property division. But both sides appealed against it.

 

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