SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean prosecutors requested on Friday a 15-year jail term for local tech giant Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, also known as Brian Kim, on stock manipulation charges, said an official at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office.
Kim was arrested on accusations of stock manipulation during the acquisition of a K-Pop agency, then released on bail last year.
He has denied the allegations, saying he never ordered or tolerated any illegal activity, the company said previously.
Kim was accused of being involved in manipulating the stock price of SM Entertainment in 2023 to hinder a competitor Hybe from acquiring it.
Prosecutors also sought a 500 million won ($360,192) fine for Kim, the official said.
An official at the Seoul Southern District Court, which is due to make a ruling in the case, declined to comment to Reuters on Friday.
Kim is seen as a visionary in South Korea’s digital industry for building Kakao’s group of affiliates – worth 86 trillion won ($62 billion) by assets – from the ground up since launching the popular messaging app KakaoTalk in 2010.
($1 = 1,388.1500 won)
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies)
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