Eight people have been indicted on charges of manipulating stock prices by making false regulatory filings and spreading deceptive information via an Internet broadcast in the course of corporate takeovers, prosecution officials said Monday.
Two suspects were formally arrested and six accomplices were indicted without detention.
The two people, including a suspect surnamed Yang, are accused of making false regulatory filings while taking over two KOSDAQ market-listed firms, the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said.
After the shares of the two firms had fallen temporarily, the two allegedly colluded with the six accomplices, including the host of an Internet broadcast program on the stock market, surnamed Koh, to jack up their prices.
Koh allegedly recommended viewers to purchase shares of the two firms by calling them “celebrity shares,” officials said.
As a result, the shares skyrocketed, prompting the suspects to secretly sell their shares and reap a huge amount of profits in the process, officials said.
The local stock market has been suffering from price-rigging deals involving celebrity shares, which have become the darlings of investors wishing to earn a windfall.
President Park Geun-hye vowed during last year’s presidential campaign to stem unlawful acts on the stock market as they have resulted in financial losses for retail investors, hurting the livelihoods of the underprivileged. (Yonhap News)
