▲ Lee Jong-ho, former head of investment firm Blackpearl Invest, appears for questioning at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office in central Seoul on July 21, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(2nd LD) special counsel-ex-first lady

(2nd LD) Special counsel questions ex-first lady's associate over stock manipulation, influence peddling

(ATTN: UPDATES with raid on ministries in last para)

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team was questioning a key associate of former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Monday over allegations he peddled his influence to secure a suspended prison sentence for a business partner.

The team, led by special counsel Min Joong-ki, summoned Lee Jong-ho, former head of investment firm Blackpearl Invest, to its office in central Seoul, two days after it raided his home and car.

Lee is at the center of multiple cases involving the former first lady, the wife of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol.

He is suspected of receiving 81 million won (US$58,000) from a business partner in return for using his connections to Kim to secure him a suspended sentence in a stock price manipulation case involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea.

Lee himself is a key figure in the case dating back to 2009 to 2012, and was sentenced to a suspended prison term for his involvement.

The former first lady's accounts were allegedly used in the scheme, and Lee is believed to have managed those accounts.

Lee is also accused of leveraging his ties to Kim to manipulate the stock prices of Sambu Construction Co. in a separate case and relieve former Marine commander Lim Seong-geun of responsibility for the 2023 death of a Marine.

The special counsel team has been tasked with investigating 19 criminal allegations against the former first lady.

In a case involving a shaman, she is suspected of receiving a diamond necklace and two Chanel bags from the Unification Church in exchange for its participation in state-funded development projects in Cambodia.

On Monday, investigators from the special counsel team launched a raid on the headquarters of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea, which handled the funds for the projects.

They simultaneously raided the finance ministry, the foreign ministry and Heerim Architects & Planners, a construction designer that previously sponsored Kim's cultural contents company and handled the relocation of the presidential residence.

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