‘유령 주식 배당 사고’ 삼성증권, 국민연금에 18억 배상 판결 확정

The "ghost stock dividend scandal" saw Samsung Securities ordered to pay around 18 billion won in compensation to the National Pension Service, whose verdict was confirmed by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court 2nd Division (Chairman O Geum-mi) upheld the lower court's decision that Samsung Securities was liable for 18.67 million won in restitution from the National Pension Service's 299 billion won suit.

The stock dividend error occurred on April 6, 2018, when Samsung Securities erroneously issued 1,000 shares instead of 1,000 won per share in a dividend payment. If the plan had worked, 28.1295 billion won should have been deposited into 28,1295 stock accounts. Instead, 28.1295 million shares were distributed, roughly 30 times the number of issued shares (8,900 million).

Samsung Securities requested a halt to stock sales shortly after, and the request was halted within 33 minutes, but about 31 minutes saw 22 employees issue 1208 million shares, with 16 employees completing 501.2 million shares traded on the market. The resulting rush of sales led to 40 times the previous day's trading volume for Samsung Securities shares, and the Korean Exchange's dynamic volatility mitigation device was activated seven times, causing the market to fluctuate.

Samsung Securities' stock price temporarily dropped 11.68% to 3,0515 won from the previous day's close. As a result of this incident, Samsung Securities faced a fine of 1.44 billion won for violating the fair trading order maintenance obligation and was also ordered to pay 10 billion won in restraints. The National Pension Service brought a lawsuit against Samsung Securities in the following year, alleging that the company failed to establish appropriate risk management standards and internal control systems, resulting in the scandal on April 6, 2018, lasting until September 28.

The National Pension Service argued that if the scandal had not occurred, the normal price of Samsung Securities shares and the difference between the standard price and the price at which they were sold during this period should serve as the basis for calculating the damages, with the National Pension Service entitled to receive a portion, approximately 18.67 million won, of the damages.

Both the 1st and 2nd divisions of the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court's judgment and dismissed the appeals.