“Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea’s most successful business group, was sentenced Friday to five years prison for offering bribes and other crimes,” Youkyung Lee reports for The Associated Press. “Lee, 49, was groomed to lead the conglomerate that was founded by his grandfather and became such a dominating force in South Korea that it’s mockingly called ‘Republic of Samsung’ by the public.”
“He took a higher profile role at the world’s largest maker of smartphones, television sets and microchips that power consumer electronics after his father suffered a heart attack in 2014 and was poised to cement control. Instead, at the end of last year Lee was implicated in a massive political scandal that culminated in President Park Geun-hye’s ouster,” Lee reports. “The court said he was guilty of offering bribes to the former president and her close friend Choi Soon-sil to facilitate a smooth handover of power at Samsung, which is a publicly traded company. Park and Choi are also on trial.”
“Lee’s own father was twice convicted for tax evasion but received a special presidential pardon so he could help South Korea win its bid to host the Winter Olympics for the first time,” Lee reports. “But the princeling’s case may be different because the public is increasingly unwilling to indulge the double standards long enjoyed by families who were lionized a generation ago for helping to turn South Korea into a manufacturing powerhouse.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: 1. He should have gotten the full 12 year maximum sentence.
2. Samsung is a criminal enterprise run by criminals.I don’t know which is worse: Samsung’s slavish copying or that there are tens of millions of dullards and/or morally-crippled consumers who would buy such obvious knockoffs. What kind of person rewards thieves, especially such obvious ones? What kind of person hands over their money to make sure that crime pays? What’s wrong with you people, exactly?
It makes me sad that there are outfits like Samsung Electronics on the planet, as I was with Microsoft before them. People who work for Samsung Electronics should be ashamed. It makes me even sadder to see people supporting blatant criminals, whether it be blindly or, worse, knowingly. To those people I say: Get some morals, will you, or how about at least acquiring a modicum of taste?
What you’re doing is supporting criminal activity. It’s like you’re buying knockoff Coach handbags, but you’re paying pretty much the Coach price! Not too smart, eh? Oh, sure, you might have “saved” a bit upfront on your fake iPhone (maybe you got one of those Buy One Get One or More Free deals), but you’re paying the same data rates – after a couple years, you’ve pretty much paid the same anyway! So, in the end, you’re saving little or nothing while:
a) depriving the company who basically inspired your inferior, fragmented product;
b) depriving yourself of the real deal and the real experience, and;
c) rewarding the criminal, encouraging them to steal even more.Not a lot of sense being made in any aspect of your toting around that Android phone, is there? Oh, right it’s “open.” Smirk. And, yes, every one of us with the real thing knows that you’re carrying around a half-assed fake, you tasteless wonder.
Didn’t you people have parents? If so, what did they teach you, if anything? Sheesh. — SteveJack, MacDailyNews, August 6, 2012
SEE ALSO:
Leaked texts reveal Samsung’s manipulation of South Korean media – August 24, 2017
Prosecutors seek 12 years in jail for Samsung heir – August 7, 2017
Samsung’s acting head Lee Jae-yong indicted on bribery charges as scandal grows – February 28, 2017
South Korean court approves arrest of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong – February 16, 2017
South Korean prosecution again seeks arrest of Samsung chief – February 14, 2017
Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong escapes arrest in massive bribery scandal – January 20, 2017
South Korea attempting to handicap Apple by demanding the removal of preinstalled apps like the App Store – July 7, 2016
Korea Fair Trade Commission clears Samsung’s use of standard-essential patents against Apple – February 27, 2014
South Korea, the Republic of Samsung – December 10, 2012
Welcome to South Korea, the ‘Republic of Forgery’ – September 11, 2012
Samsung’s ‘Instinct’ is obviously to make Apple iPhone knockoffs – April 1, 2008
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Pete V,” and “DavidSteward” for the heads up.]
Gee, a country that actually metes out justice…how refreshing.
Well, there’s been a great deal of criticism in SK recently about powerful people avoiding justice. Many protested this guy’s trial assuming that he was going to get off.
I would assume that someone as powerful as this guy is (was), does idiotic things like he is accused of, then he must have thought he was above the law.
Politically, considering that the previous SK President Park Geun-hye was thrown out for her crimes of accepting bribery, it would be a disaster if Lee Jae-yong was pardoned for providing that bribery.
“What do I care about law? Ain’t I got the power?”
— Cornelius Vanderbilt
Send him North to Kim…now that would be real punishment, I’m sure even if he has to serve time, it will be in a Ritz Carlton.
He’ll walk when the coast is clear. Should be prosecuted for the adverse health consequences of working in his factories.
Hey, trump pardoned criminal Arpaio, right? US’s lackey, S. Korea, may emulate the US’s egalitarian form of justice.
Hey, Trump didn’t go after criminal liar Hillary Clinton also, right|? If S. Korea does emulate US egalitarian form of justice, they have far more reasons from career lackey politicians from both parties but they could just go by the previous idiot’s last 8 years alone that S. Korea, as well as Trump, would be well justified.
Hillary was never convicted. You know why? Because the law never charged her for any alleged crimes. Therefore, she remains innocent until proven guilty.
Joe, on the other hand, was convicted of obstruction of justice, a federal crime. He’s there fore a criminal. Worse, “Arizona county attorney’s office announced that it will immediately halt ‘providing iPhones as an option for replacement or upgrades for existing employees,’ citing the [then] current legal battle between Apple and the Department of Justice.” That move is completely irrational and fundamentally vindictive.
As an aside, yes, Hillary obfuscates, says stuff that look like lies and they probably are, and she seems phony, and keeps stuff from the American people. She also used her Secretary of State position to enrich her Clinton Foundation. The case is now winding through the court system. Major rumors are that her crime family has killed off people who do not toe her, Bill’s, and the DNC’s line. But, you know what? At least she’s an iPhone user which is good for Apple’s bottom line.
The latter does not outweigh the former.