Former law firm employees who profited by trading stocks using information obtained by secretly accessing the emails of a lawyer they worked with were handed heavy sentences at first instance.

Criminal Division 13 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Sang-yeon) on the 10th sentenced former Law Firm Gwangjang employee A (40), who had been indicted in custody on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and intruding into the information and communications network, to three years and six months in prison, a fine of 6 billion won, and forfeiture of 1,823,997,516 won; and B (41) to three years in prison, a fine of 1.6 billion won, and forfeiture of 527,180,800 won. Finding no risk of flight, the court did not remand them to custody in the courtroom.

From September 2021 to December 2023, while working in the law firm's IT department, they allegedly used an administrator account to access the emails of corporate finance team lawyers to obtain information such as corporate tender offers and paid-in capital increases, and traded stocks based on that information. Using this method, A obtained 1,823,997,516 won and B obtained 527,180,800 won in unjust gains. They were found to have used even funds gathered through accounts in family members' names or through loans for the illegal stock trades.

The court stated, “The defendants actively secured information and even viewed, without authorization, the emails handled by lawyers,” and “Given that this is a serious crime that undermines the fairness and credibility of the capital market, the nature of the crime is bad.” It added, “From the investigative stage through these proceedings, the defendants repeatedly changed their statements, avoided giving statements until conclusive evidence emerged, and played down the offenses,” and “With the unjust gains, they bought an expensive imported car and an apartment, and when the Financial Supervisory Service began an inquiry, they disposed of the vehicle and apartment to cash out in order to evade forfeiture; the post-offense circumstances are also unfavorable.”

While largely admitting the charges, they denied some of them. A and B argued that they had obtained only work-related information and that some stocks had been traded even before the offenses. B also objected to the amount of unjust gains calculated by prosecutors. The court did not accept any of their arguments.

Earlier, prosecutors took the two into custody on April 15 last year and brought them to trial on April 28 of the same month. Having received the case in January of the same year from the Securities and Futures Commission under the Financial Services Commission, prosecutors concluded that in 2023, while working in Gwangjang's IT department, which was advising as MBK Partners pursued a tender offer for shares of Hankook & Company, they illegally learned and used undisclosed information. In the process, they obtained in advance information on rights issues or tender offers and traded shares of Rainbow Robotics, Osstem Implant, Mediana, Hankook & Company, SNK, and others.