Ah, the plot thickens. Way back in June of this year Ms. Lisette Lee was caught with 500 pounds (227 kilos) of marijuana in her 13 mostly Louis Vuitton luggage bags while she disembarked from her charted private jet at Port Columbus International Airport. Immediately, she claimed that she was related to Samsung’s founding family. She also claimed, of course, that the pot wasn’t hers. Typical. Samsung, of course, promptly denied any familial association with Listette. Also, typical.
To be fair, Ms. Lee doesn’t have a ton of credibility. She often told friends that she was an heiress to both the Samsung and Sony fortunes, sometimes using the alias Listette Lee Morita, which is the surname of Sony founder Akio Morita. Listette was also known as a Hollywood (and Beverly Hills) socialite and also tried some acting, even having an IMDb profile.
Tuesday there was a bond hearing and a woman who was identified as Listette’s aunt, Jin Lee, testified under oath and said some interesting things. According to the local newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch:
During the bond hearing, Lisette Lee’s aunt, Jin Lee, testified that her niece is the granddaughter of Samsung founder Byung-Chul Lee. Jin Lee said that Lisette Lee’s mother, Corine Lee, is Byung-Chul Lee’s daughter.
Jin Lee testified that Corine Lee, who is Korean, gave her baby to friends to raise after her family refused to allow her to marry Lisette Lee’s father, who is Japanese.
Oh, it get’s better:
Jin Lee said Lisette Lee’s father is Yoshi Morita, “a Japanese gangster.” She said her niece received money from Morita, sometimes as much as $100,000 a month, and had traveled to South Korea several times to visit with her biological parents, who are not married.
After a recess, an attorney asked Jin Lee what she meant by “gangster.” She said that is a term that refers to business people who invest in casinos.
[...]
According to Jin Lee, Lisette is the only daughter of Morita and Corine Lee, who turned their child over to close friends Bum Geol Lee and Lauren Lee, who live in California and raised her.
Lisette’s dad is yakuza? Really? At least to me, Lisette doesn’t look 100% Asian. Plus, according the article linked above, her real name is Lisette Locascio Lee. Locascio? Well, that might make more sense. But wait, there’s more. Apparently, a letter with Samsung letterhead was found in Lisette’s home, signed by David Steel, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics America, describing her as “heiress to the Samsung Electronics company.” However, a few days later Samsung said the letter is fake and came up with evidence apparently proving that David’s signature was forged.
I think Lisette and her party still have some huge credibility (and believability) issues, but if Samsung is lying about personal family details, it wouldn’t be the first time. Some Koreans are also skeptical of Samsung. In any case, these things have a way of working themselves out at the end of the day and the truth is likely to come out eventually. I guess we’ll see.
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I like this story. Keep us updated WangKon.
By the way, still working on an email reply to you, but not tonight, it’s Halloween Eve, and it’s go time!
Er, surely that’s tomorrow, this would be the eve before All Hallows Eve. [HallowE'en]
Providing a false explanation to the public as to the manner in which a family member died, particularly when that explanation is so sad, is entirely different from disavowing the existence of a blood relationship with someone.
‘Ms. Lisette Lee was caught with 500 pounds (227 kilos) of marijuana in her 13 mostly Louis Vuitton luggage bags while she disembarked from her charted private jet at Port Columbus International Airport. Immediately, she claimed that she was related to Samsung’s founding family. She also claimed, of course, that the pot wasn’t hers.’
So, if she had, in fact, been related to Samsung’s founding family, or if they had owned up to her being part of the clan, and if she claimed the pot wasn’t hers, then she probably would not have been prosecuted in Port Columbus? Well, sadly, that just may be the case.
gbnhj,
Of course the two are vastly different. However, if in the unlikely event that this episode is true in some way, I wouldn’t put it past the Samsung family to try as hard as they can to deny it even if the truth will come out eventually.
Whether she is who she claims to be or not, it’s very likely that she forged the letter to facilitate he smuggling operation.
Arghaeri
Congratulations on knowing the etymology of Halloween, and thanks for the lesson. Now I’ll return the favor
I’m pretty confident that the day before Halloween day itself can correctly be called Halloween Eve. Do the math and think about it until you are convinced.
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