<Anchor>
Suspicions have been raised that John Lee, CEO of Meritz Asset Management, who led the so-called 'Donghak Ant Movement' in the stock market, made illegal investments.
It is said that he invested in a friend's company under his wife's name.
Financial authorities have launched an investigation, and CEO John Lee denies the allegations.
Reporter Jeong Seong-jin reports.
<Reporter>
The wife of CEO John Lee owns a 6% stake in Company A, a real estate-related online investment-linked financial company.
However, as it became known that Company A was founded by a friend of CEO John Lee, suspicions arose that CEO John Lee made a borrowed-name investment in his friend's company under his wife's name.
In addition, when it became known that most of the 6 billion won of the fund launched by Meritz Asset Management was invested in the products managed by Company A, CEO John Lee reinvested the investment of the financial company he was serving in under a borrowed name. There were also suspicions that he was pursuing his own interests.
CEO John Lee acknowledged that he was investigated by the Financial Supervisory Service, but denied the allegations.
First, he said that he had sufficiently explained to the financial authorities about the suspicion of his wife's borrowed name investment and submitted related materials.
However, he said that the FSS is reviewing whether there is a possibility of mistakes or violations of laws in the procedural aspects of internal control.
He also emphasized that the fund must have suffered a loss for the suspicion of pursuing private interests to be established, but that there was no internal insolvency with a return of 12% per annum.
In addition, it was explained that the company in which the spouse of CEO John Lee has a partial stake is not a stakeholder under the Capital Market Act.
The Financial Supervisory Service conducted an on-site inspection of Meritz Asset Management for about two weeks from the 23rd of last month and is currently reviewing the data.
(Video editing: Jeon Min-gyu)