For damned near two years we've been mentioning, off and on, the mess into which Dallas-based Lone Star Funds got itself in South Korea -- long story short, it bought Korea Exchange Bank for cheaps, then tried to sell for big dough without paying taxes to the locals. Or so allege South Korean officials, who, last week, got Lone Star Funds' bossman to South Korea to testify about the deal -- and then told him, Oh, and by the way, you can't leave the country for at least 10 days.
Well, 10 days sounds a whole lot better than 10 years -- which is what prosecutors are calling for in the case of Paul Yoo, who leads Lone Star's South Korean operations. They also want about $4.5 million. Doesn't sound like Grayken's having much fun overseas: Reports a South Korean paper today: Grayken's was on the witness stand for 11 hours Monday and about the same yesterday. And "it will continue until a 10-day travel ban on him expires." --Robert Wilonsky
