Lee, the billionaire Samsung vice chairman and son of ailing chairman Lee Kun-hee, was indicted on Tuesday over a controversial 2015 merger that helped him tighten control over the company.
Lee, who is also known as Jay Y. Lee, was previously found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges in 2017. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but walked free after less than a year when an appeals court threw out some of the charges and suspended his sentence. Prosecutors on Tuesday said the 2015 merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was undertaken in a manner that allegedly benefited Lee and allowed him to gain a tighter grip on Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of his family's sprawling conglomerate.