Prosecution Arrests and Indicts Kang Jong-hyun for Embezzlement and Breach of Fiduciary Duty at Bithumb Affiliate

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Financial Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Chae Hee-man) announced on the 20th that Kang Jong-hyun (41), known as the actual owner of the cryptocurrency exchange 'Bithumb,' has been arrested and indicted on charges of breach of trust and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, as well as fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act.

Jo, the CEO of a Bithumb affiliate company who faces the same charges, and an employee named Jo, who was in charge of accounting-related tasks under Kang's instructions, have been brought to trial, with the former detained and the latter released on bail.

Kang and others are accused of embezzling 62.8 billion KRW from Bithumb affiliate companies from 2020 until September of last year. They are also charged with obtaining an unfair profit of 35 billion KRW through fraudulent unfair trading by issuing convertible bonds (CB) at a Bithumb affiliate in 2021, spreading favorable information to boost the stock price, and causing a loss of 32 billion KRW through breach of trust by transferring call options to repurchase the CB at a low price.

The prosecution detected signs that Kang and others had embezzled company funds and conducted raids on Bithumb affiliates such as Bident, Invigen, and Bucket Studio in October of last year. On the 13th of this month, they summoned actress Park Min-young, Kang's former lover, as a witness to investigate whether she was involved in the process of Kang's acquisition of unfair profits.

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