Samsung's heir and his three siblings bought Everland bonds at 7,700 won a share in 1996, two executives were convicted, and their father was cleared on that charge

Samsung Everland was the closely held company at the top of the Samsung group's ownership chain. In December 1996 it issued 9.6 billion won of convertible bonds. The bonds went to Lee Jae-yong, eldest son of chairman Lee Kun-hee, and his three siblings. They converted them into 1.25 million shares, 64 percent of Everland. The conversion price was 7,700 won a share; prosecutors said a fair price was 85,000 won. After a 2000 complaint by 43 law professors and a civic group, prosecutors opened the case in December 2003. In October 2005 the Seoul Central District Court convicted Everland's former president Her Tae-hak and its president Park No-bin of breach of duty, found 97 billion won in losses, and suspended their sentences because they gained nothing personally. In May 2009 the Supreme Court upheld Lee Kun-hee's acquittal on the Everland charge. In August 2009 the Seoul High Court convicted him over Samsung SDS bonds with warrants sold below market to his son in 1999, gave him a suspended three-year sentence and fined him 110 billion won. In August 2012 a high court in Daegu upheld 13 billion won in damages to three Cheil Industries minority shareholders who said he had told Cheil not to buy the Everland bonds; he did not appeal. Lee Jae-yong became chairman of Samsung in October 2022. He was pardoned in August 2022 for a 2017 bribery conviction, and on 17 July 2025 the Supreme Court made his acquittal final in the merger accounting case.