Journalists Indicted for Pocketing 9.3 Billion Won by Inflating Stock Prices with "Featured Stock" Articles

[Anchor]

A large group of journalists has been sent to trial for purchasing stocks in advance before publishing positive news articles, then selling them off to pocket billions of won in ill-gotten gains once the stock prices rose. More than 2,000 articles were distributed using this method.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the details.

[Reporter]

This article was published online around lunchtime on May 3 of the year before last.

The headline includes the term "featured stock."

It mentioned specific stock shares and contained content expected to drive up stock prices. Indeed, after the article was released, buying volume notably increased on the stock chart for that company, pushing prices up.

Articles related to so-called "featured stocks," where stock prices or trading volumes move unusually, are also displayed on brokerage trading systems, influencing investment decisions.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office has indicted a ring of stock manipulators, including journalists, who exploited these characteristics to engage in front-running.

They bought the stocks in advance before publishing the articles and sold them off afterward to pocket market arbitrage profits.

Authorities apprehended eight individuals, including an accountant-turned-quasi-investment advisory firm representative, Mr. A, who plotted the crimes, and journalists. Four individuals, including Mr. A, were indicted and detained.

[Kim Tae-gyum / Head of Financial Investigation Division 2, Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office: The crime period lasted for a total of four years and eight months, yielding a combined illegal profit of approximately 8.55 billion won...]<br />

Mr. A handed over as much as 160 million won to individual journalists in exchange for publishing the articles, and it was revealed that some journalists also pocketed illegal profits through individual front-running.

A total of approximately 1,800 articles were published in this manner.

[Seo Hyun-jae / Director, Capital Markets Special Judicial Police Bureau, Financial Supervisory Service: For them, the headlines appeared to be not just a part of the articles, but a primary instrument of their crime.]

Separately from this group, a journalist from an economic daily newspaper was also indicted and detained on charges of writing 340 positive articles over a period of about two years and pocketing 740 million won in illegal profits through front-running.

(Video by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Lee Sang-min | Graphics by Jang Chae-woo)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.