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We reported on allegations of stock price manipulation by Chairman Lee Jae-hwan, the youngest brother of CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyeon and former CEO of group affiliates. In response to this report, Chairman Lee denied that he did not know where the investment company he had set up was invested, but there was testimony that reversed this.



Correspondent Lee Hyun-jung.



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Company B, a bio company, was listed on the KOSDAQ two years ago.



Until recently, Chairman Lee Jae-hwan said, "The stock price will rise to 100,000 won," and recommended active investment around it.



Company B announced that it would issue convertible bonds worth 10 billion won in September last year.



The stock price, which had stayed in the 10,000 won range for over a year, rose on the news of attracting a large amount of investment.



However, the Cheil Bio Fund, which invested 7 billion won in the company at the time, and the Ascent Bio Fund, which recently became the second largest shareholder of the company, are funds invested by Chairman Lee Jae-hwan.



Chairman Lee claimed that he was not involved in the investment decision, but the reporters could hear completely different testimonies from insiders of Company B.



They said, "After the investment decision in September of last year, Chairman Lee visited Company B, and the CEO of Company B was very friendly."



After some time, the CEO of Company B personally visited Lee's personal office and explained the overall business situation of the company.



In addition, Chairman Lee told his acquaintances, "This is a company invested by a prominent American genetic analysis company."It is a factor that drives the stock price up,” he said.



However, in reality, they tried to contact an American company and failed, "Afterwards, the 'American company's takeover rumor' of an unknown source circulated, which served as a great positive," insiders testified.



Company B advertised that it received the so-called 'CLIA' certification, the so-called 'CLIA' certification, in the United States in August last year, but a plurality of company B officials testified that this was also not true.



At that time, related articles poured out due to the active promotion of Company B, and it acted as a great 'good news' in the stock market.



The reporters contacted the CEO of Company B several times and asked for clarification, but no response was received.



In response to these allegations, Chairman Lee Jae-hwan explained, "After investing in Company B, I met with the company's CEO, but I did not receive a report on the business situation." .