Samsung heir ordered back to prison on bribery charge

Ruling leaves a two-and-a-half year vacuum at the top

by Thomas Ricker

Jan 18, 2021, 7:36 AM UTC

Samsung Heir Jay Y. Lee Appears At Court For Corruption Retrial

Jay Y. Lee arrives at the Seoul High Court on November 09, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea

Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Thomas Ricker is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.

Lee Jae-yong — known as Jay Y. Lee in the West — the de facto leader and heir to the Samsung Group conglomerate, has been ordered back to prison for two years and six months on bribery charges, according to Bloomberg.

The billionaire son of controversial Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, who died in October, was first jailed in 2017 in a succession scandal that saw the removal of president Park Geun-hye. Lee served just one year of a five-year sentence before a retrial was ordered in 2019.

Lee had been accused of offering horses and other bribes to a friend of the former president to win government support for his succession at Samsung. Park is serving a 20-year sentence on a variety of charges including bribery related to Samsung.

In December, Lee offered a rare public apology for his role in the succession plot. He also pledged that he would not pass management control of the Korean dynasty to his children. Lee Jae-yong, 52, is the grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.

The ruling is expected to create a leadership vacuum at the top of the conglomerate, potentially complicating major strategic decisions. Samsung is currently run by a team of senior executives.

An attorney for Lee called the decision “regrettable,” according to Bloomberg.

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