When Hanjin Shipping began sinking, the Choi family ran for the lifeboats
SEOUL — Hanjin Shipping was in rough seas this spring, battered by the downturn in global trade and by costly ship leases it had negotiated in better times.Choi Eun-young, the company’s former chairwoman who had stepped down in 2014, decided to take action: she sold all her stock in Hanjin.Regulatory filings show that between April 8 and April 20, Choi and her two adult daughters sold 967,927 shares valued at $2.7m. The move saved the Choi family at least $1m in losses in the months that followed as Hanjin’s fortunes sank and investors headed for the lifeboats, authorities say.It also came at a price: Korean state prosecutors are now investigating the trades as possible insider trading, and they have fuelled fresh criticism of South Korea’s family-run conglomerates, known as chaebols, that are the dominating force in its business culture.The April stock sale triggered a probe by South Korea’s Financial Services Commission, which later handed the case to the Seoul Southern District P...
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