Seoul (AFP)
Lee Jae-yong, the 238th richest person in the world according to the Forbes ranking, was fined 70 million won (52,000 euros) by the Seoul District Court.
He was found guilty of consuming propofol several times in recent years at a cosmetic surgery clinic in Seoul.
Propofol, normally used as an anesthetic in surgery and in intensive care units, is sometimes taken recreationally as a narcotic substance.
It was an overdose of this product that notably caused the death of singer Michael Jackson in 2009.
At the trial in early October, Mr. Lee's attorneys argued that the drug had been administered to him for medical reasons.
But "the quantity injected was very high and the nature of the crime committed is not light taking into account the social responsibilities exercised by the accused", estimated Tuesday the judge Jang Young-chae while rendering his verdict.
Mr. Lee did not speak at Tuesday's hearing, and declined to answer questions from reporters.
Lee Jae-yong, 53, is vice president of Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of smartphones and memory chips.
In fact, he is also the one who has taken up the torch at the head of the conglomerate since his father Lee Kun-hee, the architect of the group's global take-off, stepped back due to health problems.
The patriarch passed away last year.
Lee Jae-yong was sentenced in January to two and a half years in prison for corruption, embezzlement and other offenses related to the corruption scandal that brought down former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
However, in August he was granted parole by the South Korean government worried about the consequences for Samsung, the country's economic pillar.
Mr. Lee is also facing legal proceedings in another case, that of the controversial merger of two subsidiaries that had favored his takeover of the conglomerate.
Samsung is by far the largest of the "chaebols", those family-run industrial empires that dominate the business world in South Korea, the world's 12th largest economy.
© 2021 AFP