Mastermind or Naïf? Samsung Heir’s Fate Hinges on the Question<br />Mr. Lee, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has been the top leader of the Samsung group of companies since its chairman<br />and his father, Lee Kun-hee, slipped into a coma three years ago.<br />Prosecutors say Mr. Lee and top Samsung executives paid $38 million in bribes to maintain that control without paying taxes.<br />The South Korean public has soured on big companies like Samsung, which many<br />believe are holding the country back and are funding political corruption.<br />Like other rich South Korean families, the Lees maintain control over the Samsung empire through a<br />complex web of cross-shareholdings between their companies rather than through controlling stakes.<br />Mr. Lee and his lawyers say that he is innocent — and<br />that he did not know enough about Samsung or South Korean politics to commit the crimes he is accused of.<br />SEOUL — The criminal trial of Lee Jae-yong, who controls Samsung, one of the world’s<br />largest corporate empires, has riveted South Korea since it began last spring.<br />Many top executives of those companies — including Mr. Lee’s father — have been tried<br />and even convicted of various crimes only to be pardoned or have their sentences commuted.<br />Regardless of the trial’s outcome, Mr. Lee’s reputation as a corporate leader has been damaged, say some Samsung watchers.
