The allegations first surfaced in February 2020 when news outlet Newstapa, citing a leaked police report, raised suspicions that Kwon Oh-soo, former chairman of Deutsch Motors, conspired with a stock trader identified as Lee to manipulate the company's stock prices between 2010 and 2011.
At the time, Kim, who was married to then-Prosecutor General Yoon Suk Yeol, reportedly entrusted her stocks and securities accounts to the manipulators. This prompted lawmakers from the minor Open Democratic Party to file a complaint with the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office, accusing both Kim and her mother, Choi Eun-soon, of violating relevant laws.
Prosecutors found that three of Kim's six accounts were involved in stock manipulations already deemed illegal in previous trials. They were reportedly used for stock manipulation orders over a period of 19 days.
However, the investigation concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that Kim knowingly allowed her accounts to be used for stock manipulation or that she had direct contact with the traders responsible for the scheme.
Despite evidence of stock manipulation from two of her accounts, prosecutors will not indict Yoon's mother-in-law either. She claimed that she only managed one account and that the other was a proxy account under Kwon's control.
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