The scene could have come out of a Hollywood movie. Five dozen official-looking individuals descend on the South Korean office of Lone Star Funds looking for evidence that the private equity firm is a big-time tax dodger. The Korea Herald reports that the action took place yesterday at the firm’s Seoul office, as part of a full-blown investigation of Lone Star’s alleged illegal transfer of $8.6 million overseas, and its 51% acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank at a reportedly low price. Now Lone Star stands to rake in $6 billion from its sale of that KEB stake to Kookmin Bank, and KEB’s union is protesting the deal and wants to be sold to a Singaporean bidder. Meanwhile, the prosecution investigators searched the houses of five senior Lone Star officials and barred another 10 from leaving the country. The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Steven Lee, the former head of Lone Star’s South Korean Unit. “The prosecution didn’t explain ‘why now’ to summon Lee, but it seems that it has been preparing for it for a while,” Judge Lee Sang-ju, who issued the warrant, told the Herald.
