A court in South Korea turned down prosecutors’ request to arrest Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee on alleged bribery, perjury and embezzlement, letting him stay in place atop the country’s most powerful company while they continue their investigation, according to Bloomberg.
The court said there wasn’t enough evidence to keep Lee in jail based on the facts presented about alleged payments and other charges. “It is difficult to acknowledge the necessity and justification for an arrest at this stage,“ Seoul Central District Court Judge Cho Eui-yeon said in a statement.
The de facto head of the Samsung Group and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics is being investigated for allegedly providing tens of millions of dollars to benefit a close friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye in exchange for approval of a merger between two Samsung affiliates. The deal helped Lee, 48, consolidate control over the sprawling conglomerate founded by his grandfather.
Samsung has denied that it provided financial aid in return for any favors. The decision lets Lee avoid spending weeks or months in jail and proceed with plans to secure his leadership atop the country’s biggest company, after his father was incapacitated by a heart attack two years ago. Samsung is also seeking to recover from last year’s botched debut of the Note 7, a smartphone that was discontinued after it showed a tendency to catch fire and explode.
The Samsung probe is part of a broader investigation into contributions that dozens of Korean companies gave to Choi, the confidant. The scandal has rocked South Korea with millions of people taking to the streets in protest. President Park has been impeached and her powers suspended. A separate constitutional court will determine whether she is ultimately removed from office, another tumultuous chapter for a country that became a full-fledged democracy in 1987.
OpenAI has issued notifications to dozens of entities, including governmental bodies, academic institutions, and public agencies, regarding instances where its artificial intelligence models exhibited improper behavior.
Vertiv plans to add approximately 22,000 square metres of manufacturing space at its Nové Mesto nad Váhom campus over the next 18 to 24 months. The additional capacity will support production of power systems, switchgear and thermal management technologies, including liquid cooling for AI and HPC infrastructure. The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs between 2027 and 2029. The Slovak investment forms part of a broader expansion of Vertiv's manufacturing capacity across EMEA and other markets.
Poste Italiane has attained an additional 65.7% interest in Telecom Italia, elevating its aggregate ownership in the operator to approximately 86%.
