Reports: Samsung heir sentenced to prison during corruption trial

dpa/GNA – The heir to Samsung’s corporate empire, Lee Jae-yong, has again been sentenced to prison in a reopened corruption trial, local media reported.

The Seoul High Court has imposed a two-and-a-half-year sentence on Lee, South Korean broadcasters and the national news agency Yonhap reported Monday.

The background to the proceedings is a corruption scandal involving former South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Samsung is said to have paid large sums to companies owned by a controversial confidante of Park.

Lee had already been sentenced to five years in prison for corruption in 2017. A year later, the sentence was reduced to probation. The trial was later resumed.