Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong cleared of fraud by South Korea’s top court

Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong has been cleared by South Korea’s top court of fraud charges, concluding a years-long legal battle over his role in a 2015 merger deal.

Lee, the grandson of Samsung’s founder and the de facto head of the company since 2014, had been accused of using stock and accounting fraud to try to gain control of the firm.

In its final verdict, the Supreme Court in Seoul upheld a not guilty verdict, after Lee was acquitted of all charges in two earlier trials.

The case drew widespread scrutiny of the technology giant, as the country grapples with corporate corruption scandals involving its powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebols.

“Today, the Supreme Court has clearly confirmed through its final ruling that the merger of Samsung C&T and the accounting treatment of Samsung Biologics were lawful,” said Samsung’s lawyers on Thursday.

“We sincerely thank the court for its wise judgment following a thorough five-year trial process.”

The Samsung boss faced allegations of fraud in the wake of a merger that prosecutors said was designed to shift control of the company from his father, Lee Kun-hee. His father suffered a heart attack in 2014 and faced legal troubles of his own and died in 2020.

The younger Lee was first arrested in 2017 on charges of bribery to win the government’s support for a merger between two Samsung subsidiaries.

Over the course of his legal problems, he had separate jail terms cut short – one due to a special presidential pardon when he was on parole from prison.

At the time, the government said the leader of the country’s biggest company was needed to spearhead South Korea’s economic recovery in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2024, a district court cleared Lee of all charges linked to the merger worth around $8bn (£5.97bn) between two of its subsidiary companies.

Lee was cleared again after prosecutors appealed the case in the High Court.

Legal cases over the past decade have added to Samsung’s troubles as it struggles with intensifying competition and underwhelming stock market performance.