 |
| Ra Deok-yeon, center, head of an unregistered investment consulting firm, is taken to the Seoul Southern District Court in the capital on May 11, to attend a hearing to review the legality of his detention on charges of large-scale stock manipulation that rocked the local financial markets. Yonhap |
Two close aides of the head of an investment consulting firm were arrested Friday for allegedly recruiting investors in a large-scale stock manipulation case that has rocked the local financial markets.
The Seoul Southern District Court issued the arrest warrants for the suspects, surnamed Byun and An, citing the risk of them destroying evidence and fleeing.
They are close confidantes of Ra Deok-yeon, head of an unregistered investment consulting firm, who was arrested the previous day.
Ra's firm was at the center of the recent collapse of the stock prices of nine companies, including energy firm Samchully and Seoul City Gas.
Byun and An are accused of having raising the stock prices of the companies through an "order matching" technique after taking over mobile phones and personal information from investors.
The stocks of the nine listed companies had steadily risen for years before nose-diving late last month following mass sell-offs through SG Securities Korea, the local branch of the Societe Generale Group of France.
About 1,000 investors are said to have suffered huge losses estimated to be between 800 billion won ($606 million) and 1 trillion won. (Yonhap)
![[INTERVIEW] Virtual K-pop group MAVE: is more than just pretty pixels](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/bcc387606cf7451c94f51a5978960c9f.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'Cobweb' director questions meaning of cinema](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/a029c9ea411f4aef94c6310f6a7c3c54.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] Seoul's increased art market momentum brings Sotheby's back to Korea](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/3439cc1e2d744b85ab81fdcf6f045ba5.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
