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[KSweeley]

Looks like Samsung is in a bribery scandal where their leader was just sentenced for 5 years in jail from allegedly bribing former South Korean President Park Geun-hye to help secure control of the Samsung conglomerate which owns Samsung Electronics: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-lee-idUSKCN1B41VC

The billionaire head of South Korea's Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, was sentenced to five years in jail for bribery on Friday in a watershed for the country's decades-long economic order dominated by powerful, family-run conglomerates.

After a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down the then president, Park Geun-hye, a court ruled that Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favours from Park.

The court also found Lee guilty of hiding assets abroad, embezzlement and perjury.

Lee, the 49-year-old heir to one of the world's biggest corporate empires, has been held since February on charges that he bribed Park to help secure control of a conglomerate that owns Samsung Electronics, the world's leading smartphone and chip maker, and has interests ranging from drugs and home appliances to insurance and hotels.

”This case is a matter of Lee Jae-yong and Samsung Group executives, who had been steadily preparing for Lee's succession ... bribing the president," Seoul Central District Court Judge Kim Jin-dong said, using Lee's Korean name.

Kim said that as the group's heir apparent, Lee ”stood to benefit the most" from any political favours for Samsung.

The five year-sentence - one of the longest given to a South Korean business leader - is a landmark for South Korea, where the family-run conglomerates - or chaebols - have long been revered for helping transform the once war-ravaged country into a global economic powerhouse.

But they have more recently been criticized for holding back the economy and stifling small businesses and start-ups.

Samsung, a symbol of the country's rise from poverty following the 1950-53 Korean War, has come to epitomize the cosy and sometimes corrupt ties between politicians and the chaebols.

 

[Kieli]

It is a very rare occurrence to see high-ranking corporate executives sentenced to jail for white-collar crimes.

Even more so when it's an individual as influential as a chaebol of South Korea's largest conglomerate (which accounts for 25% of their entire GDP).

 

[KSweeley]

It is a very rare occurrence to see high-ranking corporate executives sentenced to jail for white-collar crimes.

Even more so when it's an individual as influential as a chaebol of South Korea's largest conglomerate (which accounts for 25% of their entire GDP).

Wow, I didn't know Samsung accounted for 25% of South Korea's GDP.

 

[Armaros]

Wow, I didn't know Samsung accounted for 25% of South Korea's GDP.

While the world just sees the electronic side of Samsung, in Korea it had tendrils within all levels of society.

From electronics to construction etc.

 

[Renekton]

Aren't chaebols tightly intertwined with government and politics?

I think they will still be, at least indirectly, bribing the current administration.

 

[Sanjuro]

Samsung leader, Jay L.

 

[Escape Goat]

Time to bake him a cake with two Note 7s inside.

 

[Qvoth]

is this the one that lied to his father to bring discord against his brother? but now the father actually sides with the brother now?

 

[Ushay]

Anyone know how this affects Samsung?

 

[Nekketsu Kõha]

Great news. Just wish it happened more frequently as I'm sure all big businesses around the globe are complicit. Even in Sweden we have frequent scandals sometimes worse and yet the guilty usually get nothing more than a slap on their wrist.

 

[Usobuko]

Holy fuck. This is huge.

It is a very rare occurrence to see high-ranking corporate executives sentenced to jail for white-collar crimes.

Even more so when it's an individual as influential as a chaebol of South Korea's largest conglomerate (which accounts for 25% of their entire GDP).

One of the longest sentence too. Damn.

 

[ArtHands]

That's lots of crimes.

The Seoul Central District Court said Friday (Aug. 25) that Lee Jae-yong, 49, was guilty of offering bribes to Park Geun-hye when she was South Korea's president, and to Park's close friend, to get government support for efforts to cement his control over the Samsung empire. The revelations that led to Lee's arrest in February fed public outrage which contributed to Park's removal.

A panel of three judges also found Lee guilty of embezzling Samsung funds, hiding assets overseas, concealing profit from criminal acts and perjury. Prosecutors had sought a 12-year prison term.

The court said Lee and Samsung executives who advised him caused "a big negative effect" to South Korean society and its economy.

"The essence of the case is unethical collusion between political power and capital," the court said in a statement. It led the public to fundamentally question the public nature of the president's work and to have "mistrust in the morality of the Samsung group," it said.

 

[Condom]

Guess that's something, not that people would accept 5 years for murder. This is worse on a macro level. White collar crimes...

 

[Shearie]

Anyone know how this affects Samsung?

They get so big that South Korea gets renamed to Samsungland.

 

[wandering]

While the world just sees the electronic side of Samsung, in Korea it had tendrils within all levels of society.

From electronics to construction etc.

I've heard it said that you can almost literally live your entire life surrounded by Samsung. Samsung apartment, Samsung products, Samsung insurance, Samsung hospital, etc.

They also used to have a military division.

 

[snap]

Wow, I didn't know Samsung accounted for 25% of South Korea's GDP.

they make everything, from tanks to amusement parks