From Fortune:

Samsung Electronics Co. Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee was acquitted of stock manipulation charges after a Seoul court ruled in his favor on Monday.

The case centered around evidence that Lee manipulated a deal years ago to gain more influence within Samsung. His acquittal comes as a relief to the company, which is struggling in a global downturn and facing stiff competition from Apple Inc. and SK Hynix Inc.

Lee had been embroiled in legal struggles for years and was seeking the removal of a five-year prison sentence and $376,000 fine for charges of stock-price rigging and accounting fraud.

The charges were also connected to a controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates that prosecutors said helped cement Lee’s control of the conglomerate.

In 2022, he secured a presidential pardon from the graft charges, allowing him to take formal control of the conglomerate that his grandfather created in 1938.

The verdict is especially encouraging for the company as it struggles with global smartphone and memory chip slumps.

The company is also playing catch-up to SK Hynix in the field of high-bandwidth memory, as HBM chips are used to help Nvidia Corp.’s accelerators in training AI models.

Samsung reported a rise in HBM sales by more than 40% in the December quarter, with signs of recovery in memory demand and expected growth in mobile shipments.



Read more: Samsung chair Jay Y. Lee acquitted of stock manipulation charges