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Meritz Asset CEO offers to quit amid controversy

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Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee / Yonhap
Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee / Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee has offered to step down following allegations that he violated the capital market law while managing the firm's peer-to-peer (P2P) private equity fund.

Lee has led the asset management firm since 2014 and extended his term three times. His current term expires at the end of March next year, but he appears to have chosen to resign from the post to take responsibility for the controversy.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is still investigating the company as well as Lee to look into whether the CEO breached the law by making Meritz invest in a P2P real estate firm. His wife holds a 6.57-percent stake in the company and Lee is suspected of using a borrowed name for the stake investment.

Meritz declined to comment on why Lee abruptly decided to resign. It also remains unclear whether the company will accept his resignation.

Lee is best known for his appearance on major TV shows after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he advised more people to jump into the stock investment. He has particularly underscored the importance of long-term stock investments and became hugely popular amid the recent stock market boom.

But the latest scandal has tainted his image as an evangelist of value investing.

FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun also said Tuesday that the watchdog will "inspect the case in detail."

The authority finished its on-site inspection into the company between May 23 and June 7. The latest case will also be reviewed by the FSS' sanctions committee. The final decision on whether to impose any sanctions against the company will be confirmed by the Financial Services Commission sometime around the end of 2022.


Lee Min-hyung mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr


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