Jay Y. Lee Quotes
We did not pay for favors.
Lee, Jae-yong. Testimony before the National Assembly. 6 Dec. 2016. Quoted in Choe, Sang-Hun. "Samsung Heir Faces Grilling by South Korean Lawmakers." The New York Times, 6 Dec. 2016.
The bill went down to a narrow defeat, but the Republican leadership of the House held the vote open for a record setting 3 hours, until they could persuade enough members to reverse their vote. After the 3 hours, the bill passed by one vote. The House Ethics Committee did not see that as sufficient reason to start an ethics investigation.
Abramoff had bribed over 100 Congressional offices by a combination of campaign donations, paid golf junkets all over the world, free elegant meals at his own fancy Washington Restaurant, free tickets for the Congressmen, their staffs and their major constituents, to Concerts and sporting events including his own Skyboxes, and promises of future employment at very high salaries. Ironically, we was convicted of cheating some of his lobbying clients and did a jail term, but his “bribery” was technically usually legal. In addition to Abramoff, only one Congressman was charged and convicted of corruption, when many if not most had engaged in these corrupt practices. Congress makes the rules with loopholes so that what is bribery and corruption in any other setting is often not against the law if Congress is involved.
Lee Jae-yong, known professionally in the West as Jay Y. Lee, is a South Korean business magnate and Chairman of Samsung. He is the only son of Hong Ra-hee and Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung until his death in 2020, and is his father's successor. He is referred to as the "Crown Prince of Samsung" by the South Korean media and speaks Korean, English, and Japanese. As of June 2020, Lee is estimated to be worth US$6.7 billion, making him the fourth-wealthiest person in South Korea. In January 2021, Lee was sidelined from taking part in major Samsung business dealings after he resumed serving a prison sentence for a bribery and embezzlement conviction.
