40s Sentenced to Probation in First Trial for Defrauding Tens of Millions by Falsely Promising to Help with Coin Listings

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] A man in his 40s who deceived victims by promising to help list coins on a cryptocurrency exchange and extorted tens of millions of won was sentenced to a suspended prison term in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 4th, Judge Kang Soon-young of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 10 sentenced Kim (47), who was indicted on fraud charges, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension.

Kim is accused of deceiving Mr. A, the CEO of a company preparing to list on a coin exchange, in December 2019. Kim told Mr. A, "I met with the team leader of B Coin Exchange to discuss the listing," and "The team leader said that if you give 30 million won each to me and the advisory lawyer, they will make the listing possible. If the listing does not happen, the money will be refunded." B Exchange is considered one of the so-called 'Big Four' domestic exchanges. He was prosecuted for embezzling a total of 60 million won from Mr. A.

It was investigated that Kim only learned the name of the B Exchange team leader through a Bitcoin community and was not actually acquainted with him. The money received from Mr. A was used personally, such as repaying debts, and it was revealed that he had neither the intention nor the ability to list the coin. Additionally, in March of last year, he was also charged with borrowing 25 million won from Mr. A by saying, "I am doing distribution business with China, but I need to buy goods in Korea and send them. If you lend me the money for the goods, I will repay it within a week," but failed to repay it.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "The amount of damage is large, and the defendant continued to lie to the victim to evade responsibility even after the crime, causing the victim considerable mental distress for a significant period," but also "considered the fact that the defendant reached a settlement with the victim and has only received fines for crimes of a different nature in the past."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.