BBK stock price manipulation incident

During the 2007 South Korean presidential election, there were allegations made about presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak's relationship with a company called BBK. In 1999, Lee would meet Kim, with whom he established BBK and the LKE Bank. Their business enterprise went bankrupt less than a year later. Kim was investigated for alleged involvement in the massive embezzlement and for alleged stock price-manipulation. Kim initially stated that Lee had no involvement in the company, despite allegations of an affair between Lee, the candidate and his sister Kim, then a Los Angeles-based practicing attorney, though subsequently disbarred. Kim allegedly introduced Lee to her brother Kim, a former Merryl Lynch investment banker, meaning Lee's alleged mistress enlisted the aid of her brother in order to make money for, and together with, Lee who allegedly was desperate for campaign funds. Kim Hong-il of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office cleared Lee of any wrongdoing, based on Kim's testimony and Lee's denial that he had ever been associated with BBK. That would soon prove to be untrue, as it soon came to light that Lee, in public speeches by him, had publicly admitted that he was the owner of BBK: Three days before the election, an October 2000 video surfaced of Lee delivering a speech to an audience of students at Kwangwoon University, in which he can be seen "bragging" that he had founded and directed BBK activities ("BBK? Yup, that's mine!").[1] Two days before the election, the National Assembly appointed a prosecutor and charged him with the task of investigating the matter.[2]

Chung Ho-young, as Special Prosecutor in charge of the investigation would soon declare Lee to be innocent of the accusations relating to the alleged fraud and the so-called BBK incident. Critics pointed out that the investigation appeared to have been compromised and that the prosecution may have felt intimidated, seeing as how it chose not to delve any further, likely figuring that Lee would be elected president. Lee also was interviewed, rather than interrogated. That the particular type of establishment where the Lee interview took place was once known as a kisaeng house did not go well with the public once the news broke, as a kisaeng house refers to a high-end, brothel-like-restaurant establishment where female attendants/entertainers cater to men of power and wealth.[3] In response to public outcry, the special prosecutor's office announced that the initial interview location had been leaked to the media, so was changed at the last minute to a new location—the former kisaeng house, nestled in a secluded, remote location, away from the city, safe from prying eyes. They also declared that they had gone in fully prepared and had more than sufficient time to conduct the interview.[4]

Eventually, prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence and a fine of 30 billion won for former BBK owner Kim on charges of stock manipulation and embezzlement. In the final hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court, the prosecutors said Kim, who founded and operated the boiler-room operation is suspected of crimes including embezzlement of W31.9 billion of investors' money, stock manipulation, and the forgery and execution of private documents but had shown no remorse nor repaid his debts.

Earlier, Kim Ki-dong, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, said, "This is a case in which an individual person has made a mockery of the Republic of Korea."[5] For spreading "false" rumors about Lee on the eve of the presidential election, the Seoul Central District Court convicted Kim of violating the nation's election law, handing down a one-year prison term. He was given another six months for document forgery to back his attacks on Lee.[6] Prosecutors said in a statement that Kim had been changing the story with endless lies throughout the whole investigation process, making it extremely hard for them to draw up the protocol. He even denied their request to use a lie detector. Prosecutors added by saying, "Kim's defense attorney also made a false statement by saying those who testified against Kim were all liars and committing perjury. This, in fact, is a contradictory statement to the Attorneys-at-Law and attorney ethics".[7]

In the end, Kim ended up asserting that President Lee had nothing to do with the BBK scandal and that he had hoped to avoid criminal liability by manipulating the prevailing circumstances in Korea at the time.[8] Kim, who would later get convicted in Korea for his role in the incident and serve an eight-year sentence. Upon his release, he would later allege that Lee was indeed a part owner of BBK and as such had a major involvement in the BBK stock manipulation incident. Kim's allegation is that he lied under pressure from Lee, and as he thought that Lee, as his former partner in crime, would help him avoid being convicted. As turned out to be otherwise, Kim has held numerous news conferences alleging Lee's involvement in the BBK matter.

Some of the prosecutors who worked on the BBK case were promoted under Lee's presidency. Meanwhile, the US federal district court ruled that Kim was not subject to prosecution regarding BBK. Subsequent to that, the very same prosecutors came under investigation and scrutiny for their alleged role in looking the other way, thereby helping to elect candidate Lee as president of South Korea.

According to WikiLeaks, Yoo Chong-ha (유종하), the former co-chairman of Lee Myung-bak's presidential election campaign, had requested of Alexander Vershbow, the then American ambassador to South Korea, that the US authorities help delay the extradition of Kim to Korea asnaoight by the Korean government, in order that presidential hopeful Lee Myung-bak's election campaign might better control and effectively contain the controversy relating to Lee's alleged involvement in the BBK embezzlement scandal, there on the eve of the election season.[9][10]