Mr. Ra Deok-yeon, who was charged with manipulating the stock prices of eight listed companies, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and a fine of 1.465 trillion won in the first trial. Mr. Ra was reincarcerated after the court canceled his bail that day.
The 11th Criminal Division of the Southern Seoul District Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Do-seong) held a sentencing hearing on the afternoon of the 13th for Mr. Ra, who is facing charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds, and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and sentenced him to 25 years in prison along with a fine of 1.465 billion won and ordered the seizure of 1.944 billion won.
The court stated, "The Ra Deok-yeon organization received the mobile phones and securities accounts of numerous investors, manipulated stock prices through transactions and stock gathering, and pocketed massive profits while concealing their actions as individual investors conducting stock transactions. They engaged in market manipulation and unregistered investment operations and hid criminal proceeds by receiving membership fees through other corporations to avoid paying taxes related to stock income and also committed tax evasion and issued false tax documents."
Additionally, it noted, "This incident is the largest crime ever committed in the domestic stock market and is an organized, intelligent, planned, and long-term crime. It is undeniable that the responsibility lies with the Ra Deok-yeon organization, as there would have been no possibility of a stock price collapse without artificial price inflation." It further asserted, "The momentary stock price collapse has seriously damaged the trust in the capital market and stock market, inflicting significant harm on numerous innocent investors, thus demonstrating a very poor nature of the crime and high potential for condemnation."
However, the court did not specify the amount of unjust profits accrued by Mr. Ra's organization. The court commented, "During the period of market manipulation, there were various external factors impacting stock prices, such as the activation of the stock market due to COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, making it difficult to calculate only the unjust profits from these crimes."
Mr. Ra was arrested in May 2023 for allegedly running an unregistered investment advisory company since 2019, manipulating the stock prices of eight listed companies to gain unjust profits amounting to approximately 737.7 billion won. In November 2023, he was additionally charged with evading 71.8 billion won in income taxes and value-added taxes, and in April of the previous year, he was also charged with issuing false tax invoices worth 10.4 billion won. The prosecution has indicted a total of 56 people, including Mr. Ra, in relation to this case.