BOICEs, there’s good news and bad news for you.
Yonghwa has been cleared of his stock manipulation charges, but sadly, guitarist Jonghyun has been charged with a fine of 20 million Won (around RM70k) for obtaining stocks through illegal means.
Apparently, Jonghyun has admitted to purchasing the stocks after an acquaintance told him that a top celebrity was joining FNC Entertainment, with the intention of selling it after that. However, after knowing that what he planned to do was illegal, he held on to the stocks. The prosecution considered the fact that he regrets his actions, and thus, he was only penalised a minimal amount of money instead of having to serve jail time.
Main vocalist Yonghwa was cleared of all suspicions as investigations revealed that his mother was the one who handled his finances. Apart from that, it was revealed that when the stocks were bought by Yonghwa’s mother, discussions to recruit the top celebrity had not started yet.
As such, it was impossible for Yonghwa or his mother to have bought the stocks with the intention of gaining illegal revenue. It was only when Yonghwa knew that the celebrity was signed to the company and realised that the stock prices rose, only did he sell his stocks.
Earlier this week, Yonghwa was accused of insider trading for allegedly buying and selling 21,000 shares of FNC Entertainment’s stocks, earning 200 million Won (around RM700,000) in the process. Meanwhile, just earlier today (Thursday, 30th June), an unnamed CNBLUE member, who turned out to be Jonghyun, was accused of the same crime.
FNC Entertainment is currently home to a slew of singers, actors, and comedians, namely CNBlue, FT Island, Yoo Jaesuk, Jung Hyundon, AOA, Juniel, Lee Dong Gun, and more.
