Lee responds to Tong Yang insider dealing rumors

Actor Lee Jung-jae, who confirmed he is dating Lim Se-ryung, the ex-wife of Samsung Group heir Lee Jae-yong, has denied rumors over property investment linked to troubled conglomerate Tong Yang.

The award-winning actor said in a press release Thursday that Lim never introduced him to a Tong Yang Group vice chairman and that his partnership with Tong Yang Corp., the group’s property development company, ended long before a financial crisis began at the conglomerate.

Rumor had it that Lee, using Lim’s personal links to Tong Yang Group’s founding family, took out a bank loan of 30 billion won ($27 million) in 2009 on collateral provided by the group, for the construction of a luxury residential building in Gangnam.

As the project hit a snag, he pulled out of the project, which resulted in damage to the group.

Tong Yang collapsed under mounting debts in 2013 and in the process it inflicted losses on nearly 40,000 individual investors through its securities brokerage unit.

“To the contrary, Lee didn’t get his investment totaling 900 million won back from Tong Yang,” Lee’s agency, CJeS Entertainment, said through a press release.

Rumors about the business deal as well as the actor’s relationship with Lim have been circulating since an online media outlet reported in detail about their relationship.

“The two have been friends for a long time,” the agency said, adding that the friendship had only recently developed into something beyond friendship.

Lim, the heiress of Daesang Group, has two children with Lee Jae-yong. They divorced in 2009.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)