Businessman arrested in connection with multi-million-dollar stock scandal

SEOUL, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- A businessman was arrested on charges of manipulating
stock prices to pocket 16 billion won (US$13.4 million) in profit in just four
months, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The 42-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname Ji, allegedly mobilized
210 billion won in seed money and some 70 bank accounts bearing pseudonyms to
drive up the share prices of a KOSDAQ-listed firm by more than double between
October 2007 and February 2008, according to the Seoul Southern District
Prosecutors' Office.
The name of the company was not disclosed.
Ji raised the stock price from 1,925 won to 4,060 won in four months by placing
fake purchase orders at above-market prices, investigators said. He also used
block trade with his collaborators to inflate the daily trading volume,
investigators said.
The case resembles a previous large-scale stock manipulation case two years ago
involving the owner and brothers of JU Group, the top pyramid-style marketing
company in South Korea, who reaped 11.9 billion won by rigging shares of
KOSDAQ-listed auto parts company Lubo.
brk@yna.co.kr
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