South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) estimated that false and exaggerated claims about Genencell’s COVID-19 treatment candidate ES16001 generated 11.58 billion won in unfair gains linked to KH Feelux. The FSS said Genencell claimed from around June 2020 that ES16001 had received or was seeking Phase 2/3 approval from India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), but a review of India’s Clinical Trials Registry found only one trial, conducted from September to December 2020. That study assessed ES16001 as an adjunct treatment and sought designation as an Ayurvedic medicine, not approval as a primary COVID-19 treatment. Genencell’s January 2021 announcement of positive Phase 2 results sent KH Feelux shares to the daily price limit, and the company raised 116.8 billion won through a rights offering in March. The FSS identified KH Group Chairman Bae Sang-yoon, former Ssangbangwool Group Chairman Kim Seong-tae and related parties as suspects who allegedly promoted misleading information, bought convertible bonds cheaply and sold them after the stock rose. The case has intensified scrutiny of Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won, who faces separate allegations involving Genencell and requested FSS documents concerning a related unfair-trading case. The FSS found that the relevant trading violations occurred from February 2018 to June 2021, before the solicitation allegations involving Kim surfaced, and no direct connection between Kim and the KH Feelux case has been established.