Overview
- The Seoul Central District Court denied arrest warrants for Michael ByungJu Kim and three senior executives after an extended hearing, citing insufficient grounds for detention and no concerns over flight or evidence tampering.
- Prosecutors allege about 116.4 billion won in short-term notes were sold between Feb. 17 and 25, 2025 without disclosing a likely credit downgrade, which was issued on Feb. 28 before Homeplus sought court-led rehabilitation on March 4.
- MBK Partners and Homeplus deny wrongdoing, saying they did not foresee a downgrade and were working to stabilize the retailer through the rehabilitation process.
- Separate from the bond probe, other executives have been arrested on accounting-fraud allegations of roughly 1 trillion won involving debt classification and property valuations.
- Retail investors bought a notable share of the short-term notes and have staged protests, and the case has intensified scrutiny of private equity practices in South Korea.