Judge rules in favor of Kakao founder in stock manipulation dispute

A South Korean court on Tuesday dropped charges against Kakao’s billionaire founder, Kim Beom-sum, of stock manipulation ￰1￱ news sent the shares of the country’s dominant chat app operator nearly 6% higher to 62,300 ￰2￱ Korean authorities arrested Kim in July last year on charges of being involved in the stock price manipulation of SM Entertainment in ￰3￱ was alleged to have manipulated the company’s share price to hinder a competitor, Hybe, from acquiring it. Kim’s case proceeds to the Supreme Court 속보 검찰, 'SM 시세조종 의혹' 카카오 김범수에 징역 15년 구형 ￰0￱ — 연합뉴스 (@yonhaptweet) August 29, 2025 Kim was released on bail in October last ￰4￱ had threatened in August to grant the tech tycoon a 15-year jail term and a fine of 500 million won ($350,000).

Kim has pioneered South Korea’s digital sector with the establishment of Kakao’s group of affiliates, which are currently worth around 94 trillion Korean won ($66.13 billion) in ￰5￱ tech tycoon has grown the company from the ground up since launching the popular messaging app Kakao Talk in ￰6￱ app has grown to become South Korea’s biggest messaging app, with nearly 50 million Korean ￰7￱ also has businesses ranging from gaming, shopping, to banking, and taxi-hailing. “I hope this serves as an opportunity for Kakao to move, even slightly, out of the shadow of (the allegations) of stock price and market manipulation.” -Kim Boem-su, Founder and Chairman of ￰8￱ reported that Kim Dong-woo, an analyst at Kyobo Securities, acknowledged that the case will likely proceed to the Supreme ￰9￱ also believes that today’s ruling can be seen as easing legal risks to some extent, as Kim was cleared of all ￰10￱ case’s potential outcome against Kim could have jeopardized Kakao’s control of its online bank arm, ￰11￱ Korea’s financial rules restrict those convicted of financial crime from owning more than a 10% stake in a ￰12￱ is currently the largest shareholder of Kakao Corp, with a 24% stake that he and affiliated entities ￰13￱ the time, Seoul Southern District Court brought charges against Kim to prevent the potential destruction of evidence, alleging that Kim was a flight ￰14￱ and another executive also went on trial in 2022 after being accused of wrongdoing during the acquisition of a K-pop ￰15￱ financial authorities catch individuals in massive stock manipulation South Korea’s financial authorities said in September that super-rich individuals have been caught colluding with financial professionals to carry out large-scale stock ￰16￱ agency found that the individuals allegedly mobilized around 100 billion won ($72 million) for market-rigging schemes, which earned them around 40 billion won in illicit ￰17￱ financial authorities were referring to a case handled by the joint task force against stock manipulation, launched in July and comprised officials from the Financial Service Commission (FSC), the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), and the Korea ￰18￱ task force follows President Lee Jae Myung’s efforts to detect and investigate illegal and unfair stock trading ￰19￱ task force revealed that South Korean authorities raided 10 locations, including the residences and offices of seven individuals who manipulated stock prices over an extended period using substantial ￰20￱ to the task force, the suspects comprised wealth owners of general hospitals, oriental medicine clinics, and private academies, as well as a bank branch manager, a former senior private equity fund official, and an asset management ￰21￱ financial authorities accused the suspects of mobilizing more than 100 billion won in funds, sourced from corporate capital and bank ￰22￱ authorities suspect the individuals used tactics such as inflated buying and wash trades to lure investors over the past 21 ￰23￱ individuals also allegedly placed more than 10,000 sham and collusive orders, which are estimated at 40 billion won, with realized trading profits from illegal gains totaling 23 billion ￰24￱ Seung-woo, deputy vice governor of the FSS and task force head, hinted that the number of suspects and the scope of the case could expand ￰25￱ your strategy with mentorship + daily ideas - 30 days free access to our trading program