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Ringleader of SocGen stock dump sentenced to 25 years over historic price manipulation

Published: 14 Feb. 2025, 12:48

SHIN HA-NEE
[email protected]

Police officers escort Ra Deok-yeon, who was indicted for stock price manipulation, at the Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon District, western Seoul, on May 11, 2023. [NEWS1]

A district court sentenced Ra Deok-yeon, head of an investment advisory firm, to 25 years in prison for stock price manipulation, along with a fine of 146.5 billion won ($101.5 million) and forfeiture of 194.4 billion won.

The latest ruling by the Seoul Southern District Court on Thursday came nearly two years after prosecutors indicted Ra for manipulating the stock market over three years under the radar of financial regulators through price-pumping schemes.

Ra was found guilty of triggering a major stock crash on April 24, 2023, when a massive sell-off by him and his accomplices through Societe Generale Securities led to eight small-cap stocks nosediving by the daily limit of 30 percent, with some continuing to decline for up to four days.

Ra and his accomplices were indicted in May 2023 for orchestrating the largest stock price manipulation case in the country’s history, involving the eight stocks from January 2019 to April 2023. They allegedly pocketed approximately 737.7 billion won in gains and an additional 194.4 billion won in brokerage fees through an unlicensed investment advisory firm they set up in March 2019.

The court described Ra’s crime as “an unprecedentedly large-scale stock price manipulation” that caused “irrevocable damages to many innocent investors” but did not determine the exact amount his team gained from the scheme, citing other external factors that may have influenced stock market fluctuations during the period.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]