Samsung CEO charged with fraud, won't be arrested

Oh Lee Kun-hee -- if you keep this up, you're going to make the Enron CEOs look like choir boys. The latest episode in the unending shame-game that is Samsung's corporate improprieties comes in the form of a an actual indictment against the electronic-maker's top man... for fraud. According to a report out of Australia, prosecutors in Korea have formally charged Kun-hee (who has admitted guilt anyhow), but say they won't arrest him because it would cause "enormous disruption" in the company's operations. Authorities said instead they plan to send him to a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to a luxurious spa, and hope that a deep tissue rub will rid him of his lawbreaking ways.

[Thanks, Hussain]

[Rob @ Apr 17th 2008 11:07AM]

I bet you Ken Lay would've loved that. Amazing the kind of crap the rich and powerful get away with. I need to make myself some mill$

[OneLove @ Apr 17th 2008 11:26AM]

He should go to jail for not making a better Q1 ultra. lol.

[Ty @ Apr 17th 2008 12:04PM]

"Oh Lee Kun-hee -- if you keep this up, you're going to make the Enron CEOs look like choir boys."

Are you even aware what happened with Enron?

[Rainier @ Apr 17th 2008 11:09AM]

"So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause"

[MARSHAK @ Apr 17th 2008 3:40PM]

i never said you could clap!

[Tamer Brad @ Apr 17th 2008 11:16AM]

hahahaha what a creepy looking fucker

[JoSav @ Apr 17th 2008 11:24AM]

thats real life Yoda , the force is strong with it.

[The New Guy @ Apr 17th 2008 11:25AM]

He reminds me of that Bilbo guy from Lord of the Rings - i don't know why though.

[dmsrt-8 @ Apr 17th 2008 12:56PM]

i think he looks like the baby from that dinosaurs show from the 90s. Check it out...

[rock99rock @ Apr 17th 2008 1:19PM]

"Not the momma!!" -Classic

[sinai @ Apr 17th 2008 5:37PM]

funnily enough, he gets way hotter women than you could ever dream of.

[michael @ Apr 17th 2008 10:43PM]

wow. he looks like a gremlin http://phasezero.ca/img/gremlin.jpg

[The New Guy @ Apr 17th 2008 11:24AM]

Ahh gotta love Democrazy and Free Enterprise.

The Rich get away with anything and everything!!

If i ever did that, i'd be in jail for years!!! This creepy lookin mofo will be sipping green tea in the Bahamas in two weeks!

[Jeff @ Apr 17th 2008 11:40AM]

That's true...big company frauds for millions...sips tea in a spa

Small time person does a credit card fraud of $500...gets to drop soap in prison.

So what's that mean? Time to move to communism right?

[The New Guy @ Apr 17th 2008 11:49AM]

I don't know about becoming a commy, but it's time to get rich fo sure!

[NG @ Apr 17th 2008 12:04PM]

word, brother

[Doc @ Apr 17th 2008 12:19PM]

There's nothing in any definition of democracy about permitting corruption, but you can't have corruption without a government/law enforcement agency to corrupt.

[Oinquer @ Apr 17th 2008 11:27AM]

...if it was me i would get lifetime arrest for his crimes...lol

[marcin @ Apr 17th 2008 11:42AM]

serious about the spa thing? thats funny...

[The Purveyor of Justice @ Apr 17th 2008 11:27AM]

Arrest the frigg'n criminal already, nice to know justice prevails....at least when you don't have money it does.

[NHAnimator @ Apr 17th 2008 11:32AM]

I wanna be charged with fraud!

[derX @ Apr 17th 2008 8:48PM]

*charged with fraud*

In this legal system, your penalty is chosen via lottery number. Unfortunately for you--and just you--the penalty is death.

Thanks for playin', tune in next week--that is, everyone but you..again, that's unfortunate.

[Perley @ Apr 17th 2008 11:33AM]

Did he actually admit guilt or take responsibility. We need to ask someone outside of the US since we do not have the concept of taking responsibility.

[Puneet @ Apr 17th 2008 11:38AM]

corruption :)

[sinai @ Apr 17th 2008 11:39AM]

rated up for perley.

you know, in feudal japan, they'd disembowel themselves for things like this...

[Brian @ Apr 17th 2008 2:07PM]

Ahh, the good old days. Sometimes I wish people here in the US did that.

[sinai @ Apr 17th 2008 5:28PM]

unfortunately, in the US, that would only have the decent people dead and all the douchebags walking around running things.

[Mutant @ Apr 18th 2008 10:57AM]

Are you saying the douchebags AREN'T running things?

[Oinquer @ Apr 17th 2008 11:50AM]

can him just commit sepukku please? he makes justice look stupid like this

[jonyb @ Apr 17th 2008 11:51AM]

ah engadget, once again i say big companies are all corrupt its nothing new, sure this guy got caught but im sure u can get more corruptors just by random picking from any of the fortune 500 companies.

[jonyb @ Apr 17th 2008 11:52AM]

justice wil not prevail for the extremely rich, thats the way it is, get over it.

[KangMin @ Apr 17th 2008 11:52AM]

Just love how Engadget gets Korean news from Australian sources...

[Jason @ Apr 17th 2008 11:56AM]

Yet more white collar crime goes ignored. What else is new in our fucked up world?

[stimr2 @ Apr 17th 2008 3:33PM]

The ram price fixing involved all the largest ram manufactures. Also it just happened that Micron was the only company that didn't happen to pay a fine while all the non-Americans companies had too. But that was because Micron was the whistle blower in that Scandal and the plead bargained out of it.

[Jason @ Apr 17th 2008 11:59AM]

This isn't the first time Samsung has shown their lack of ethics. Doesn't anyone remember the RAM price-fixing scandal of the early 2000s?

Sorry for the double-post.

[BigD145 @ Apr 17th 2008 12:06PM]

This man will get a huge severance package when he finally does resign.

[darkstar @ Apr 17th 2008 12:37PM]

he shoulda asked Gary Forsee for some advice...
Gary got fired with 40million plus 80g per month for life!!!
talk about wow!!

[Sylvanus @ Apr 17th 2008 1:19PM]

as long as they keep those killer LCD tvs coming off the line, I'm coo hahaha

[Ben @ Apr 17th 2008 1:29PM]

That's just disgusting.

The Korea government don't want to arrest him because Samsung is an important company for Korea.

Imagine if Bill Gates is from Korea. He could probably nominate his own President of South Korea.

[sinai @ Apr 17th 2008 5:33PM]

i don't think you have a grip of what's happening here. the same thing occurs in the US every day. the only difference is that in the US, the corrupt businessmen become politicians, take office, and change the laws to make what they do legal.

perhaps you've never heard of halliburton, or the carlyle group? who do you think sold saddam the weapons? rank down for you, my friend.

[Brian @ Apr 17th 2008 2:08PM]

I, for one, get all my South American news from Austria. Works well for me.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Apr 17th 2008 2:56PM]

He got away with it once, I'll bet he thinks he can get away with it again; That's what happens when you are too lenient. Just wait and see.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Apr 17th 2008 2:57PM]

The same is true when you are lenient on terrorism or pay their bribes/ransom, they'll do it again cause they can get away with it or get what they desire and face no repercussions.

[stimr2 @ Apr 17th 2008 3:15PM]

You can not compare what Enron has done with Lee Kun Hee. The scale of Enron's scandal changed American's way of business and its society. It created the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and it was the Enron employees who lost out the most from the scandal. They lost their savings, their kids' college funds, and pensions. What Lee Kun Hee has done is petty compared to Enron. Engadget really needs to work on finding better sources and being more informed before posing stories. I've noticed this with other entries Engadget posted about this scandal as well.

Here's a link detailing the scandal http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/117_22685.html.

Let me explain what actually happened in the scandal. First of all this scandal would not have occurred if a former lawyer from Samsung had made false allegations. The prosecutors for the case found no evidence of slush funds for bribing government officials. Which the former lawyer accused Samsung of and the prosecutors even stated the lawyer was unreliable.

Samsung was actually charged with tax invasion and illegal transfer of wealth to his son. Lee Kun Hee's executies created stock accounts using Lee Kun Hee's money. Most of South Korea's large corporations (Chaebols) are controlled by their founding families .

In recent years the South Korean government made new laws making it difficult for wealthy Koreans to transfer their wealth to their heirs. These laws were created by the former liberal/progressive government that wanted to regulate large Korean corporations.

What Lee Kun Hee did was illegal but he did it for the interest of his family and his heir. However, everyone in South Korea knows the Lee Kun Hee was transfer wealth to his heir illegally. Other Chaebols have been doing this as well. Korean society is very family oriented and blood lines are very important. This is reflected in Korea's Chaebols.

[stimr2 @ Apr 17th 2008 3:34PM]

Large South Korean companies(Chaebols) play a very important part in South Korea's economy. More so than anything else because South Korea relies on exports more so than Japan or China. Because Korea's domestic market is tiny compared to them. Just look what happened in the 1997 Asian Financial crisis. It was devastating to the South Korean economy when the Chaebols started falling part.

Chaebols influence and impact on South Korea is huge. If it wasn't for the Chaebols South Korea would still be one of poorest countries in the world. It was the Chaebols along with the late president Park Chung Hee who transformed a country devastated by war into a modern and prosperous South Korea. Compare South Korea under Japanese rule/Korean War to South Korea today. No one would of believed it. People say South Korea is the "Miracle on the Han River". What they did was not a miracle. The Chaebols and South Koreans worked their asses off with their blood and sweat.

[tekdemon @ Apr 18th 2008 6:41AM]

Well for what it's worth I still feel bad for the guy since his daughter committed suicide while he was being treated for cancer...so his life's been pretty rough the last few years.

[Nelson @ Apr 20th 2008 7:40PM]

Oh!, fraud!, thats it, thats ok, its not like you broke any real laws, but next time please tell us when you decide to conquer the world, you bastard you.