An investigation is underway against the former CEO of the MMORPG Blade & Soul for insider trading. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
As reported by mmoculture, the financial authorities of South Korea have a suspicion against Bae Jae Hyun. He is the former CEO of Blade and Soul.
The criminal act is said to have taken place in June 2017. At that time, Bae was Vice President of NcSoft. He allegedly sold shares of NCSoft worth 3 million USD before the stock value of NCSoft fell by 11.41%.
The value plummeted when it became clear that NCSoft was not planning a real-money auction house for its mobile MMORPG Lineage M. Lineage M later became an incredibly successful game for NCSoft.
Bae Jae Hyun denies these allegations of insider trading, stating he sold his shares because he needed money for stock options.
If Bae is found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a hefty fine.
The case is reminiscent of Funcom’s CEO
The allegations against Bae Jae Hyun are reminiscent of the case of former Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. He was pursued by the Norwegian financial authority for having sold shares of his company based on insider knowledge that the MMORPG The Secret World would not be as successful as investors thought.
Trond Arne Aas was ultimately sentenced to 11 months in prison and a fine after years. Also, Funcom had to pay a fine of 162,000 euros. The penalty was relatively low because Funcom had cooperated with the Norwegian authorities.
Founder of NCSoft competitor Nexon was also charged
In 2016, there were also corruption allegations against the founder of the MMO giant Nexon, a direct competitor of NCSoft. He allegedly bribed a prosecutor for years.
The Nexon CEO received a suspended sentence, while the bribed prosecutor was sentenced to 7 years in prison. However, this case has been under appeal since December 2017.
You don’t bribe prosecutors – Founder of MMO giant stumbles over corruption allegations
Phew, it looks like CEOs of MMO companies have legal troubles more often than one might expect.
