An executive at an investment advisory firm who participated in the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation has been found guilty again in the second trial.

The Criminal Division 16-1 of the Seoul High Court (High Court Judges Kim Yu-jin, Lee Kyung-hoon, and Yang Jin-su) sentenced Min, an executive at the investment advisory firm BlackPearl Invest indicted on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison suspended for 3 years, and a fine of 150 million won, maintaining the sentence from the first trial.

The court stated, "The defendant conspired with BlackPearl Invest CEO Lee Jong-ho and others to carry out market manipulation for over two years, making the nature of the crime severe, and played a core role."

However, the court explained the reasoning for the sentencing by noting, "The defendant fully confessed during the second trial to the criminal facts recognized as guilty in the first trial, and because the market manipulation was not successful, general investors did not suffer massive losses nor did it cause serious market disruption."

Min was put on trial on charges of conspiring with former Chairman Kwon and others from December 2009 to December 2012 to artificially boost Deutsch Motors' stock price and pocketing unfair profits worth 10.7 billion won.

As in the first trial, the appellate court ruled that the statute of limitations (10 years) had expired for actions taken before October 20, 2010, and sentenced a dismissal of indictment on those charges.

Prosecutors had indicted the first round of market manipulation from 2009 to 2010 and the second round from 2010 to 2012 by bundling them as a single crime (comprehensive single crime), but the court judged them as separate crimes, explaining that the "main operators" of each period were different, meaning the criminal intent was not continuous.

In addition, the court explained that because the initial indictment against Min's accomplices was made after the statute of limitations had passed from the period of the first market manipulation, the crimes committed during the first period were subject to the dismissal of indictment.

Min is the individual who utilized an account under the name of First Lady Kim Keon-hee for market manipulation and was also pointed out as the author of the Excel file named "Kim Keon-hee" discovered on a computer at the BlackPearl Invest office.

First Lady Kim was initially cleared of charges by prosecutors regarding the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation, but following reinvestigation by Independent Counsel Min Jung-ki's team, she was indicted and detained in September of last year on charges including violations of the Capital Markets Act.

The first trial found the charges related to the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation not guilty, but the second trial overturned this to a partial guilty verdict.

This case has been referred to the Full Bench of the Supreme Court.

(Photo: Yonhap News)