Prosecutors Indict Son Jung-woo of 'Welcome to Video' for Hiding Bitcoin Worth 400 Million Won

Operator Son Jung-woo of the world's largest child sexual exploitation material site 'Welcome to Video'.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Son Jeong-woo (26), who served a prison sentence after being convicted for operating the world's largest dark web site for child sexual exploitation material, "Welcome to Video (W2V)," has been indicted again on charges of concealing criminal proceeds.

This case was reported by Son’s father to the prosecution on May 11, 2020, one week before Son’s first extradition hearing, in an attempt to prevent his son’s transfer to the United States.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Women and Children Crime Investigation Division (Chief Prosecutor Kim Won-ho) announced on the 7th that Son was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment and gambling on the 4th.

Son is accused of laundering approximately 400 million KRW worth of Bitcoin, which he received as payment for selling child sexual exploitation material, through multiple cryptocurrency exchange accounts and bank accounts under his own or his father’s name, then converting it into cash to make tracking or detection difficult (violation of the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment).

Additionally, Son is charged with gambling by placing bets totaling about 5.6 million KRW multiple times on an online gaming site. Among the charges reported by Son’s father was also falsification of electronic records, but the prosecution dismissed this charge due to lack of evidence.

This case, directly reported by Son’s father, was initially assigned to the Criminal Division 4 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office but was reassigned in July last year to the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division, which had previously investigated Son’s charges related to obscene material production.

Following consultations with the National Police Agency, which handled investigations of the Welcome to Video operator and members from 2017 to 2018, the prosecution directed the investigation back to the National Police Agency’s Cyber Investigation Division, where the investigation is currently ongoing.

Earlier, in November 2020, the police applied for an arrest warrant for Son, but the court rejected the warrant, stating, "Since the main charges are generally acknowledged and basic evidence has been collected, there is little concern that evidence will be destroyed."

Son created the "Welcome to Video" site on the dark web, accessible only through a special browser, from 2015 to 2018, and traded child sexual exploitation material. He was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison in the second trial for charges including production and distribution of obscene material under the Youth Protection Act and distribution of obscene material under the Information and Communications Network Act. He has since completed his sentence and been released.

He was also indicted by a U.S. court on related charges, but avoided extradition to the U.S. after the Seoul High Court denied the extradition request in 2020.

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