A South Korean court on Friday rejected prosecutors’ request for warrants to detain senior executives of Lone Star, the US private equity fund, for questioning over alleged stock price manipulation though prosecutors responded by re-filing the requests withing hours.

The prosecutors are seeking to detain Ellis Short, Lone Star's global vice-chairman, Mike Thompson, the fund's legal adviser, and Paul Yoo, head of Lone Star Korea, alleging they colluded to manipulate the share price of Korea Exchange Bank's credit card unit, then separately listed, when Lone Star bought the bank itself three years ago.