SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has been sentenced to five years in prison for paying bribes worth 8.9 billion won ($7.9 million) to a friend of then-president Park Geun-hye to win her support for the merger of two Samsung affiliates.
A Seoul district court ruled that Lee approved Samsung Electronics' plan to send 7.3 billion won to Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime friend, through a German shell company. Some of the money was used to buy horses for Choi's daughter.
