[News Today] FIRST LADY TESTIMONY IN STOCK CASE

[LEAD]
In the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case involving the first lady, courts at both first and second instances found that three accounts held by the first lady and one by her mother, Choi Eun-soon, were used for price manipulation. Records show transactions between the two. The first lady confirmed she managed these transactions herself, unaware at the time that her counterpart was her mother.

[REPORT]
On November 3, 2010, in the early days when the second round of stock price manipulation of Deutsch Motors was underway….

A suspect surnamed Yeom accused of taking part in that manipulation placed an order to sell 25,000 shares of the car maker. Eleven seconds later, first lady Kim Keon-hee's mother Choi Eun-soon issued a sell order for 62,000 shares using the same IP address.

Their asking price was 3,550 won (USD 2.6), about 30 won higher than the priority purchase price at the time.

Then 32 seconds later, a buy order for 90,000 shares comes from Kim's account.

The asking price was the same as Yeom and Choi's sell price of 3,550 won.

Eventually, Kim's account purchased the 87,000 Deutsch Motors shares put up by Yeom and Choi.

Both the prosecution and the first and second court trials saw this as collusive trading known as a matched order.

They believe that stock manipulators used Kim and Choi's accounts.

Kim said in her first written interrogation in 2021 that she placed the order herself by phone, but the prosecution's investigation found it was done through HTS, or home trading system and not by phone.

Later during questioning, Kim acknowledged a memory lapse but maintained the stance that she conducted the transaction herself and said she didn't even know it was her mother trading on the other side.

Regarding speculation that the 47 million won(USD 35,000) deposited in March 2010 from a borrowed name account of a Mr. Lee, the main player in the first round stock manipulation, was compensation for investment loss,

Kim said she has no memory of signing a loss compensation agreement and recalls that she traded something through former Deutsch Motors chairman Kwon.

The first lady also reportedly said that she did not draw up documents such as a receipt.