Goldman Sachs testimony suggests Samsung Elec chief Lee's active role in business deals

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Samsung Electronics Co.’s Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee proved to be more than a backseat driver in management affairs of Korea’s most valuable company as the chief immediately expedited $17 billion U.S. foundry project on his first overseas business trip since August parole.

According to an e-mail message unveiled during testimony in an accounting fraud and wrongful merger trial against Lee on Thursday, Lee had directly approached Goldman Sachs to pitch Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy smartphones for corporate use during his meeting with Jung Hyung-jin, country head of Goldman Sachs Korea.

In the e-mail, which Jung sent to a senior executive at Goldman Sachs global headquarters to report on his meeting with Lee in July 2015, Jung delivered Lee’s message arguing for the merits of Samsung smartphone as corporate phones.

Goldman Sachs had used only Apple and BlackBerry devices for corporate phones due to securities reason. The firm allows only the phones that pass its security engineering team’s review for work use, given the sensitivity of financial information the firm handles.

Following the meeting, Lee together with smartphone engineers reportedly flew over to New York for a sales pitch at Goldman Sachs’s head office. Samsung Electronics gained the security approval from Goldman Sachs with strong backing from its chief.

Lee reportedly was actively involved in other major deals. His connection has been credited for Samsung Electronics’ winning of 8 trillion won ($6.7 billion) worth 5G network equipment order from Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S., last year.

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