Execs face jail time for Samsung Biologics fraud

Dec. 9, 2019

A court in South Korea has handed out prison sentences for three Samsung executives involved in accounting fraud at the company’s biotech arm. 

Samsung was first being investigated for claims that the company inflated the value of JV Samsung Bioepis, which specializes in biosimilars and has a significant partnership with Biogen. According to prosecutors, the executives ordered employees to destroy internal documents and even hid computers under factory floors, which were discovered during a raid of the company. The fraud was allegedly committed to help buoy the value of its parent company, Samsung C&T.

“The boldness of the defendant’s criminal acts was beyond the public’s imagination and stunned society,” the trial’s judge said. 

Ultimately, three executives were handed sentences of up to three years.

Read the full Reuters report.