Credit: Kris Carlon / Android Authority
- Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee has just been fully pardoned by the South Korean government for his various crimes.
- The government makes it clear that his pardon is due to protecting the economy, which depends heavily on Samsung.
- It is likely Lee will officially take over his father’s old position as the head of Samsung.
In South Korea, Samsung Electronics Vice-Chair Jay Y. Lee has been convicted several times on multiple counts of serious crimes. These include perjury, embezzlement, hiding assets outside the country, and bribing elected officials for the purposes of helping Samsung conduct various business transactions.
Although Lee — known as Lee Jae-yong in Korea — has served prison time for these crimes, his record is now clean. The Samsung heir has received a presidential pardon from the Korean government and is now able to do as he pleases at Samsung. This would include, theoretically, him finally taking over the company as people expected he would after the position was vacated due to his father’s death.