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Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong convicted, fined for anaesthetic misuse
- Multi-billionaire Lee Jae-yong, vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, was fined US$60,000 by a Seoul court for illegally using propofol
- An overdose of the drug, which is normally used as a medical anaesthetic, was given as the cause of pop star Michael Jackson’s death in 2009
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The de facto leader of South Korea’s sprawling Samsung group Lee Jae-yong was convicted on Tuesday of illegally using the anaesthetic drug propofol, the latest legal travail to beset the multi-billionaire.
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Lee – the vice-chairman of the world’s biggest smartphone maker Samsung Electronics and according to Forbes the world’s 238th richest person – was fined 70 million won (US$60,000) by the Seoul Central District Court, Yonhap news agency reported.
The sum is around 0.0006 per cent of his estimated US$10.2 billion fortune.
He was found guilty of having repeatedly taken the anaesthetic at a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul over several years.
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Propofol is normally a medical anaesthetic but is also sometimes used recreationally, and an overdose of the drug was given as the cause of pop star Michael Jackson’s death in 2009.
Usage is normally seen as a minor offence in South Korea and prosecutors originally proposed fining him 50 million won under a summary indictment, a procedure where less serious cases do not go to court.
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