Asset manager found dead in apparent suicide amid financial turmoil

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- An asset manager was found dead in a Seoul hotel in what appeared to be a suicide driven by investment losses in the wake of the U.S. financial meltdown, police said Thursday.

Police found the 55-year-old man, head of a small asset management firm called
Setbit, in a hotel room in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, at 4:55 p.m. on
Wednesday after a hotel clerk called the authorities.
The man, who was identified only by his surname Choi, left a long suicide note,
saying: "Having been under pressure from the cash crunch since August last year
from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, I worked hard to have my investors at
least recover their principals. I feel sorry to my friends for failing to achieve
that. I'd like to pay my debt back by death."
Choi had checked in on Sunday afternoon. Sleeping pills and liquor were found in
his room along with the suicide note, said officer Choi Yeong-guk of the Gangnam
Police Station.
Police said the hotel clerk went into the room after Choi did not emerge at
check-out time.
The extent of Choi's financial losses and the number of investors involved were
still unknown. Choi established the asset firm in 2000 with funds from about a
dozen people he knew from college.