Front-Running Using Feature Stock Articles... Accountant and Journalist Indicted and Detained

Unfair Profits from Over 2,100 Articles
Buying Ahead of Reports, Selling After Stock Rises

A certified public accountant and a current journalist have been indicted on charges of making unfair profits by purchasing stocks in advance using feature stock articles and then selling them after publication.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office indicted Certified Public Accountant A and Journalist B on July 6th on charges including violations of the Act on Capital Markets and Financial Investment Business (fraudulent unfair trading). B also faces charges of concealing criminal proceeds.

Previously, on June 18th, the Capital Markets Special Judicial Police of the Financial Supervisory Service referred a total of seven people, including ringleader A and B, who engaged in front-running, to the prosecution with an opinion for indictment.

According to the Capital Markets Special Judicial Police, from October 2020, A organized a stock price manipulation group with current journalists, drafted preliminary feature stock articles targeting small- and mid-cap stocks with low trading volumes or high volatility, and purchased those stocks before the articles were distributed.

It was found that when the articles were published and the stock prices rose, the group sold the stocks for unfair gains, profiting a total of KRW 8,560,000,000 using more than 1,800 articles until June of the previous year.

B is accused of earning unfair profits of KRW 750,000,000 by distributing about 300 feature stock articles he wrote between October 2022 and July 2024 at times of his choosing, buying stocks before publication, and selling them after the articles were released.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.