South Korea seeks arrest of Samsung heir in 2015 succession probe

Prosecutors say they seek Lee's arrest on suspicions of stock price manipulation and audit rule violations, among other offences

South Korean prosecutors have requested an arrest warrant against Samsung Group heir Jay Y Lee, they said on Thursday, in the investigation of a controversial 2015 merger and alleged accounting fraud in a suspected bid to aid his succession plans.

The move spells fresh trouble for Lee, who, if arrested, faces a return to jail just a little over two years after being released from detention in February 2018.

Lee already faces trial on a charge of bribery aimed at winning support to succeed ailing group patriarch Lee Kun-hee, and which involved former President Park Geun-hye, and spent a year