Prosecutors Drop Defamation Charges Against Roh Soh-yeong's Lawyer Over Claims Chey Tae-won Spent Over 86 Billion Won on Cohabitant

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office decided yesterday (September 9) not to indict a lawyer representing Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, on defamation charges filed by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, citing insufficient evidence.

The controversial remarks were made in November 2023 following a preparatory hearing for a damages suit filed by Director Roh against Kim Hee-young, former chair of the T&C Foundation and Chairman Chey's cohabitant.

During the session, Roh's lawyer, A, told multiple reporters, "It is highly likely that the money Chairman Chey spent on Ms. Kim exceeds 100 billion won," adding, "It is several times more than the amount spent while maintaining a family life with Director Roh and their children."

The following day, in an interview with a broadcaster, the lawyer showed a document listing approximately 86.5 billion won and stated, "When combining the money given to Ms. Kim's family, the foundation, and the child born out of wedlock, it exceeds 100 billion won," and "It is three times more than the money spent on married life with Director Roh."

In response, Chairman Chey filed a complaint against lawyer A, arguing, "The appellate court ruling in the divorce suit recognized Chey's expenditures related to Ms. Kim as 21.9 billion won," and "The use of definitive expressions to state false facts damaged Chairman Chey's reputation."

However, the prosecutors did not accept Chairman Chey's claims.

The prosecution stated, "The appellate court for the divorce suit was unable to specify the exact amount of consumption expenditures related to Ms. Kim because it was impossible to pinpoint the specific figures."

At the same time, the prosecution noted, "It is reasonable to view expenditures related to Ms. Kim as including 13.3 billion won contributed by Chairman Chey to the T&C Foundation, approximately 4.3 billion won transferred to Ms. Kim and her family, and about 30 billion won for construction costs of the Hannam-dong residence where Chairman Chey and Ms. Kim live."

In particular, the prosecution cited a separate case in which the Seoul Northern District Court acquitted a YouTuber who had claimed "Chairman Chey spent 100 billion won on Ms. Kim" on defamation charges, ruling that "expenditures related to Ms. Kim could actually reach 65 billion to 70 billion won, or even more."

Meanwhile, Chairman Chey has re-appealed against the remand ruling in the property division lawsuit ordering him to pay 944 billion won in cash to Director Roh. He recently submitted an application to the court to reduce the scope of his appeal, contesting only the portion exceeding 700 billion won.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.