Two Representatives of Pica Project Detained and Indicted for Art Sculpture Investment

Suspected Fraud and Violation of the Capital Markets Act

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Joint Investigation Team on Virtual Asset Crimes (Head: Chief Prosecutor Lee Jeong-ryeol) announced on the 9th that it has arrested and indicted Song (23) and Seong (44), co-CEOs of PICA Project, the issuer of PICA coin, on charges of manipulating the coin’s market price by attracting investors under the pretext of art investment (fraud and violation of the Capital Markets Act).

They are accused of listing PICA coin on domestic coin exchanges Coinone and Upbit, falsely promoting the performance of the art investment business to inflate PICA’s price, and then selling it to pocket 33.8 billion KRW. PICA is a virtual currency introduced as a way to jointly own artworks through a 'fractional investment' method.

They are also charged with embezzling 6.6 billion KRW from the proceeds of PICA coin sales and submitting false documents regarding circulation volume plans when applying for PICA coin’s listing on Upbit, thereby obstructing the listing review process.

Co-CEO of Pikacoin undergoing warrant hearing
Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The indictment also includes charges of obtaining an unfair gain of 800 million KRW by falsely recording investment attraction achievements related to fractional art investment.

The prosecution judged that although PICA coin itself is not a security, the investment certificates issued to investors by them have the characteristics of securities, applying charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.

PICA coin was listed on Upbit in January 2021 but was delisted (trading support terminated) in June of the same year due to secretly issuing and circulating more coins than initially planned. On Coinone, it was listed in October 2020 and delisted in March this year due to abnormal trading activities. This comes shortly after the prosecution began investigating suspicions of bribery related to the listing of domestic coins including PICA coin.

In connection with this, two former Coinone executives and two listing brokers have been indicted on charges of obstruction of business and bribery or embezzlement and are currently undergoing first trial proceedings.

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