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Samsung Group Chief Denies All Charges as 'Trial of the Century' Begins (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader shares a Fortune report: The head of South Korea's Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, denies all charges against him, his lawyer said on Thursday, at the start of what the special prosecutor said could be the "trial of the century" amid a political scandal that has rocked the country. Lee has been charged with bribery, embezzlement and other offenses in a corruption scandal that has already led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.
Lee, who is being detained at Seoul Detention Centre, did not attend court. A defendant does not have to turn up during a preparatory hearing, held to organize evidence and set dates for witness testimony. The date of the next hearing will be decided next week. Lee's defense denied all charges against him on his behalf, saying that the special prosecution's indictment cites conversations, evidence or witnesses the prosecution did not actually hear, investigate or interview according to the rules -- or states opinions that are not facts.
This SKorea stuff blew up around the US election, which covered it up. But is actually a crazier story than the Trump storyline.
tldr; The president was under control of a 'shaman' friend, which used her power to embezzle funds basically everywhere (this is how Samsung is 'possibly' involved, being SKorea's biggest company), and abused the presidents power. This whole thing came to light when the shaman's not-so-intelligent daughter was put into a high ranking college somehow, and that was investigated which lead to more findings.
Much better explanation of this entire thing here: https://askakorean.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-ultimate-choi-soon-sil-gate.html (writer is K-American lawyer)
Apple is one of Samsung's best customers. Apple buys Samsung memory, flash NAND, and screens for use in their devices. The Apple iOS processors are mostly manufactured at Samsung fabs (initially they were made entirely at Samsung fabs). If the new iPhones switch to OLED screens, it'll probably be Samsung screens since LG probably won't have enough capacity.
Apple tried to disassociate itself from Samsung after the two butted heads in various patent lawsuits. But it was difficult/impossible to do since Samsung makes a lot of the stuff Apple uses in their products. They had to use the Samsung fabs because nobody else had sufficient capacity for 10nm production (TSMC finally began adding some capacity last year). And Samsung has 98% of the world's OLED screen production capability. Apple OTOH accounts for only a few percent of Samsung's sales. So it's actually Apple who needs Samsung a lot more than Samsung needs Apple.
A lot of people seem to forget or not know that Apple doesn't actually make anything (except software and a processor design). Apple is primarily a parts assembler, like Dell, who buys other companies' products, repackages them, and sells it to the end-user. Actually, even Dell has more skin in the game since they own their own assembly factories. Apple contracts out their assembly work to companies like Quanta and Foxconn.