The court in Sør Koranen sentences a crypto fraudster to 5 years in prison

According to a local outlet, a South Korean court sentenced a 33-year-old, identified only as “Han”, to 5 years in prison. He was also fined the equivalent of $700,000 for defrauding investors of both digital and fiat currency.

South Korean sentenced to 5 years in prison for $1.5 million fraud involving BTC and ETH

According to Friday’s report, “Han” created a blockchain-based webtoon company in 2019 and launched his own digital currency along with it. They claimed that these tokens would be the sole currency on the site and that they would be listed on major international crypto exchanges.

Since nettoons – a type of digital cartoon – are quite popular in South Korea, and since “Han” promised investors tenfold returns, several people were defrauded. About 30 people bet their Bitcoin, Ethereum and fiat currency on “His” project and lost a total of 2.4 billion won – more than $1.5 million.

The court found that “He” had neither the ability nor the intention to fulfill any of his promises to investors, and that they maliciously continued their fraudulent attempts until the police became involved. “He” was sentenced to 5 years in prison and a $700,000 fine for committing investment fraud.

Interestingly, the court took the opportunity to reprimand the investors. Reportedly, the presiding judge noted that most of the affected investors are partly to blame as they invested in a new sector without doing their due diligence to investigate the high-risk investment beforehand.

Join our Telegram group and never miss a story about digital values.

Notable crypto-related law enforcement activity in South Korea

South Korea has stepped up its crypto-related law enforcement through 2022. The major increase in police activity came after the catastrophic Terra LUNA collapse in May. According to local outlets, the country has seized more than $180 million in crypto for tax evasion in the past two years alone.

The increased law enforcement activity in South Korea affects both individuals and companies. For example, the country’s police arrested 16 people linked to a digital asset exchange scam worth over $2 billion.

South Korean authorities also recently escalated the Terra case by issuing an arrest warrant for founder Do Kwon. News of this move sent Terra(LUNA) down around 40% on September 14th. The search went global when Interpol issued a red notice for Kwon’s arrest earlier this week.

Do you think the government should do more to inform investors about the dangers and realities of investing in digital assets? Let us know in the comments below.

About the author

Tim Fries is the co-founder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate in the investment team at RW Baird’s US Private Equity division and is also a co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.