COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, PHOTO BY SEONG-JOON CHO
Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee had been rising to the role of chairman through a
series of troubled shareholding mechanisms and acquisitions among
Samsung companies. Here, he’s accosted by reporters as he arrives at the
Seoul prosecutor’s office to answer a criminal probe for bribery relating to one
acquisition. January 12, 2017.The scion was held in solitary confinement, in a cell with a mattress on
the floor, no shower, and nothing but an LG television to keep him
company. The reason for solitary confinement?
“There are concerns about destroying evidence,” a prison official told
Reuters.
Three other Samsung executives, including Lee family lieutenant and
company legend G.S. Choi, were indicted for bribery. They stepped down
from the company. All three were now defendants alongside Jay Lee.
Samsung instituted emergency measures. It ordered the Future Strategy
Office disbanded, sending many of the executives and staffers from the
Tower packing. Suddenly the empire was like an octopus without a head.
“This is a new experience,” Samsung Electronics CEO D.J. Koh told
Bloomberg Businessweek. “We must make our own decisions.”
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