Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee successfully defended against an appeal by prosecutors, a step forward for South Korea’s largest company that has remained under a years-long cloud of financial impropriety charges.

Samsung Electronics 005930.KS Chairman Jay Y. Lee was found not guilty of accounting fraud and stock manipulation by a Seoul appeals court on Monday, in a case about a 2015 merger that prosecutors said was designed to cement his control of the tech giant.

Samsung Electronics Chair Jay Y. Lee faces a ruling by a Seoul appeals court on Monday over a 2015 merger that prosecutors said was designed to cement his control of the tech giant at the expense of minority shareholders.

Court upholds acquittal of Samsung chief in 2015 merger case Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong leaves the Seoul High Court in Seoul on Feb. 3, 2025, after the court upheld his acquittal over the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.