He was found guilty of bribing Park in exchange for government support for a merger that helped him tighten control over Samsung. The 49-year-old executive, who is also known as Jay Y. Lee, has been the de facto leader of Samsung since his ailing father was left incapacitated by a 2014 heart attack. The court also found Lee guilty of perjury, concealing criminal profits, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said Friday they reject the court’s decision and will appeal immediately. Prosecutors presented Lee as a savvy tycoon who knew exactly what he was doing when Samsung paid tens of millions of dollars to entities linked to a confidante of Park in order to win government backing for the key merger. The conviction caps a rocky 12 months for Samsung, beginning with the embarrassing fiasco over its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last fall. Samsung Electronics’ (SSNLF) shares closed down 1.1% in Seoul following the verdict Friday. But the stock is still not far below the record high it hit last month. And although the guilty verdict is a black mark on Samsung’s reputation, analysts said Lee’s prison sentence is unlikely to affect the tech giant’s day-to-day operations. The company has continued to post strong profits since he was first detained in the case. Lee is following in the footsteps of many other chiefs of South Korea’s big family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol. His father, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, was twice sentenced to prison — and twice pardoned. Serving jail time “is like a rite of passage,” David Kang, director of the University of Southern California’s Korean Studies Institute, said in an interview before the verdict was announced. “The question will really be how long does he serve.” Newly elected President Moon Jae-in campaigned as a “clean” candidate, promising to crack down on the power of the chaebol. The question is whether he’ll eventually pardon Lee. On his first trip to the U.S. earlier this year, Moon was accompanied by about 50 South Korean business leaders, including executives from Samsung and other major conglomerates. Moon’s administration “is just going to work with these companies,” Kang said. “So how different is it really going to be?” A spokesman for Moon said Friday that he hoped Lee’s case would be “an opportunity to eradicate the longstanding cozy relations between politics and business, which have been an obstacle to further advancing our society.” Four other former Samsung executives were also found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges at the trial, receiving prison sentences ranging from two and a half to four years. Two of them had their sentences suspended. They are also all appealing their convictions. To Receive Free News Updates, Add To Your WhatsApp: 08033857245; For Adverts Enquiries, Call 08083609209, To Publish Your Articles Or News Stories, Email editor@skytrendnews.com. READ ALSO! Between GoDaddy And Namecheap: Making The Best Choice For Domain Name Registrar READ ALSO! Google Developing New Tools To Enhance Article Search For News Publishers On Subscription READ ALSO! The Internet’s Future Lies With Its Next Billion Users — Sundar Pichai, Google CEO READ ALSO! Nigerian Filmmaker, Zuriel Oduwole Makes Forbes List Of 100 Most Influential African Women READ ALSO! Woman Marries Her Son After Getting Pregnant For Him READ ALSO! Smartphone Sales Fall As Samsung, Apple Consolidate Market Share READ ALSO! The Smart CEO: Top 5 Websites To Get Cheap Domain Name Registration ]]>