[Courtesy of FNC Entertainment]
CNBLUE's lead singer Jung Yong-hwa was cleared Thursday of accusations that he was involved in insider trading. Instead, his fellow member, Lee Jong-hyun, was fined on similar charges, according to their agency, FNC Entertainment.
Lee was slapped with a fine of 20 million won (17,400 US dollars), the agency said, adding Jung was cleared of suspected insider trading after prosecutors found he was innocent.
Jung has been questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of earning 200 million won by using insider information to buy 21,000 shares of his entertainment agency in July last year after hearing about its plan to sign a contract with Yoo Jae-suk, one of South Korea's most popular entertainer.
Jung's mother controls the singer's finances, and the singer did not know his mother purchased shares in his name, the agency said. "We explained to authorities and provided concrete evidence. As a result, charges against Jung were dropped."
However, FNC admitted Lee had bought shares for insider trading after acquiring information about Yoo's contract through a company official. It attributed the purchase to his "ignorance" of a related law.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
