Seoul, Feb 13 (IANS): The head of an investment consulting firm was sentenced to 25 years in prison here on Thursday over a massive stock manipulation scheme that rocked local financial markets.

The Seoul Southern District Court said it also ordered Ra Deok-yeon, the head of the unregistered firm, to pay a fine of 146.5 billion won ($101 million) and a forfeit of 194.4 billion won.

Ra was indicted on charges of pocketing 737.7 billion won from 2019 to 2023 by selling off the stocks of eight listed companies after raising their prices through fixing, reports Yonhap news agency.

Two of his accomplices, surnamed Byun and An, were sentenced to prison terms of six years and 3 1/2 years, respectively.

"The stock manipulation was unprecedentedly large in scale," the court said in delivering the ruling. "Multiple innocent investors suffered irrecoverable losses."

The court also said Ra denies the charges and shows no remorse despite having planned and led the crime.

In another development, the Supreme Court here on Thursday upheld an appeals court ruling that overturned the TV media watchdog's 2020 decision to impose a six-month shutdown penalty on cable channel MBN over illegal financing and accounting fraud.

The court ruled in favour of MBN in its lawsuit against the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), which had ordered the suspension of the service in October 2020 with a six-month grace period, citing violations of the Broadcasting Act.

MBN challenged the penalty, but the Seoul Administrative Court upheld it in 2022, holding the network accountable for illegal financing when it obtained its business license in 2010 and for subsequent accounting fraud to conceal the irregularity.

However, the Seoul High Court reversed the decision in September last year, acknowledging MBN's misconduct but ruling that it did not fundamentally undermine the channel's role as a news outlet.