Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team has indicted a close aide to former first lady Kim Keon-hee under the Attorney-at-Law Act. 

Min’s team said Friday in a press briefing that Lee Jong-ho, former CEO of the investment firm Blackpearl Invest, was formally indicted while in custody.

Lee is alleged to have managed Kim’s accounts during the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation case. 

He is accused of accepting 80 million won, or about 59-thousand U.S. dollars, from the scheme’s lead operator in exchange for promises to use his influence to secure a suspended sentence through Kim and former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Lee is also considered a key figure in other investigations connected to the former first lady.

He was taken into custody earlier this month after a court granted the special counsel’s request and issued a detention warrant, citing concerns over the destruction of evidence.