The other celebrity from FNC Entertainment in the company’s insider trading scandal was indeed a CNBLUE member, as Jonghyun ended up being fined for his actions. However, the member of the band that was previously publicized, Yonghwa, was cleared of wrongdoing with the company basically saying his mom did it.
Jung Yong Hwa had been under investigation for purchasing roughly 400 million won (approximately $347,000) worth of FNC stocks on July 8 and 9 of 2015, with which he then made a profit of 200 million won (approximately $173,400) after FNC recruited a major celebrity. However, it was revealed that at the time the stocks were purchased, discussions to recruit the celebrity had not yet begun, and Jung Yong Hwa had no knowledge of FNC’s plans to do so. It was revealed during investigation that Jung Yong Hwa has entrusted his mother with his finances for some time, and the stocks in question were in fact purchased by his mother, to no knowledge of Jung Yong Hwa. It was only when Jung Yong Hwa heard that FNC recruited the celebrity that he sold some of the stocks in their possession.
I mean given the other stuff that’s going on right now, whether Yonghwa did this white-collar shit is inconsequential to me. As such, if you want to believe the story he’s selling right now that’s up to you. However, like I’ve been saying, proving these insider trading cases are generally difficult, and stuff like this is why.
But hey, maybe mom’s just a genius or it’s all a coincidence? Who knows?
Speaking of which, fellow member Jonghyun was let off with a slap on the wrist after a literal ‘oppa didn’t mean it’ defense.
CNBLUE’s Lee Jong Hyun, according to reports, heard on the morning of July 15, 2015 from an acquaintance that FNC would be recruiting a famous celebrity. Without checking if the news had been reported or not, he purchased FNC stocks. However, once he realized that the transaction would cause legal issues for him, he did not sell the stocks and has been holding on to them, which has actually cost him. The prosecution, considering that Lee Jong Hyun has deeply reflected on his wrongs, has granted him a summary indictment.
Innocent oppa didn’t know the law.
Okay.
Update
So CNBLUE fans are upset at me over the wording in this post, and as such, many of them have advised me to read the details of the case. Well, that’s fair, so I decided to do exactly that, though I’m not sure it did what they wanted.
Prior to the public offering of the company in February 2014, Jung Yonghwa had signed an incentive contract with a format similar to stock option with FNC. With the cash received according to the contract, he obtained FNC entertainment’s stocks in early July of 2015. But at the time of the acquisition, the negotiations for the celebrity’s signing was not in process. Jung Yonghwa purchased FNC’s stocks without knowing the information about the contract.
So yeah, I understand Yonghwa was cleared, but reading this stuff doesn’t make me less skeptical of the situation.
Also, Jung Yonghwa had always delegated the management of his property to his mother. Aforementioned dealings that became problematized were all bought and sold in actuality by his mother. At the time of transaction, Jung was not even aware of the shares being bought under his name. But following the purchase of the stocks, when the said celebrity’s contract news was reported on July 16, Jung Yonghwa’s mother who does not have experience in stock investment saw that the share prices rose high and partially sold the owned shares. It was in no way an attempt to realize profit from the information about popular celebrity’s signing.
In February of 2014, he signed a contract with stock options, and then in July of 2015, his mom just happened to exercise those stock options right before Yoo Jae Suk signed on. And because she’s not a financial expert, she saw that the stock prices rose and then happened to immediately sell off the shares that were just bought, but that was definitely not an attempt to make a profit off Yoo Jae Suk’s signing because there was absolutely no inside knowledge of his signing.
It’s totally possible everything that happened was all a coincidence and nobody involved in this was aware of anything.
It’s also totally possible for me to think that’s sketchy as hell.
Meh.