Bithumb exchange former senior executive receives 4,5 years in prison for listing bribery

What’s new? The Seoul Southern District Court has imposed prison terms on former senior executives of the Korean crypto exchange Bithumb for taking bribes when listing coins. Ahn SeoHyun received 4,5 years in prison, while Lee Sang-jun received 2 years. They allegedly received cash worth 3 billion Korean won, two pairs of wristwatches worth 400 million Korean won, and perks at a restaurant from Bithumb’s de facto owner Kang Jong-hyun for listing an unnamed coin on the platform in 2021.

Local media material

What else is known? In addition to the bribe, Ahn SeoHyun fraudulently obtained another 2 billion won from Kang Jong-hyun and embezzled the funds. The court dismissed the embezzlement charge after failing to gather enough evidence but found him guilty of fraud.

His accomplice Lee Sang-jun was sentenced to forfeiture of 52 million won in addition to his prison term. In turn, Kang Jong-hyun, who pleaded guilty to passing the bribe, received 1,5 years in prison.

According to South Korea’s Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for bribery related to virtual assets is two years in prison, while the maximum penalty for receiving a bribe is five years.

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In July 2024, the Virtual Asset User Protection Act came into effect in Korea, which requires crypto exchanges to keep client assets separate from their own and use licensed banks to do so, as well as maintain a fund in case of a liquidity crisis or hack.

In addition, exchanges are required to monitor suspicious trading activity to curb fraud and market manipulation. Fraud with a loss amount exceeding 5 billion won is punishable by life imprisonment.

At the same time, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the main regulator of the crypto industry, launched its crypto transaction monitoring system, which also detects suspicious transfers.

In November, the authorities of the South Korean city of Phaju, following the authorities of the city of Pohang, announced the confiscation of cryptocurrencies from citizens with tax debts.