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Samsung heir Jay Lee released from prison following successful appeal
June 16, 2025
Despite therecord profits, sky-high share prices, andcritically acclaimed phones, not everything went smoothly for Samsung in 2017. This is because in August, the acting head of the company, Lee Jae-yong (also known in the West as Jay Lee), was sentenced to five years in prison on bribery charges.
However, the good news for Samsung is that Lee was released on Monday after the Seoul High Court reduced hisoriginal five-year sentenceto a two and a half year suspended sentence. All in all, Lee spent 353 days in prison.
Lee, the 49-year son ofailing Samsung head Lee Kun-hee, was originally found guilty of a number of bribery and corruption-related charges, including that of offering money to former president Park Geun-hye in return for her help in attempts to consolidate his control over the Samsung group. This was a move that was said would help his leadership succession. However, according toYonhap News, the latest ruling put the primary blame on former president Park Geun-hye and her friend Choi Soon-sil.
“We respect the court’s courage and wisdom to have delivered a not-guilty verdict for our client over the key charges,” Lee’s lawyers said. “Yet we will do our best in the next court proceeding to have the remaining charges cleared.”
While Samsung has clearly been getting on fine in the short term without Lee at the helm, there werequestionsabout what would happen in the longer term should his conviction have been upheld. However, this will no longer be a worry as Lee’s immediate release means he will be free to take up his position again.
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