Lee Kun-hee

Circular shareholdings and inheritance tax. Lee ran Samsung through a web of cross-shareholdings, with Samsung C&T, Samsung Life and Samsung Electronics owning stakes in each other, so a family holding a few per cent controlled the whole group. The 2015 merger used to strengthen his son Jay Y. Lee's position led to bribery and fraud trials. After his death in 2020 his heirs faced one of the largest inheritance tax bills on record.