'90 Billion Coin Fraud' Lee Hee-jin Brothers Deny Charges in First Trial

Lee Hee-jin (37) and his younger brother Lee Hee-moon (35), known as the "Cheongdam-dong Stock Rich," who were indicted on charges of fraud involving 'scam coins' worth 90 billion won, denied all charges at their first trial.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the first trial held on the 1st at the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 12 (Presiding Judge Dang Woo-jeung), the Lee brothers' side stated, "We deny all the charges in their entirety." They were indicted on charges including fraud and violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust). Kim (34), an employee who oversaw the coin business management and supervision at the coin issuing company run by the Lee brothers, will clarify his plea at the next hearing.

According to the prosecution, from March 2020 to September 2022, the Lee brothers issued and listed three scam coins, including Pica Coin, and through deceptive acts such as false and exaggerated promotions and market manipulation, they sold these coins and embezzled a total of approximately 89.7 billion won. In the virtual asset industry, a scam refers to acts of deceiving investors with false information to inflate prices and then selling at high prices to gain criminal proceeds. Scam coins are coins used for such crimes.

The prosecution believes that even after Lee was detained for stock fraud, he used his financial resources and personal network to secretly establish a coin issuing company in 2019 and directed these crimes. After his release in March 2020, he actively engaged in the crimes by directly issuing coins.

The Lee brothers are also accused of embezzling about 412.12 bitcoins (worth approximately 27 billion won at the time) received as payment for T Coin sales from February 9 to April 19, 2021, by transferring them to anonymous accounts on overseas exchanges instead of returning them to the victim company, the T Coin issuing foundation. These funds were also used to purchase luxury real estate in Cheongdam-dong.

The court is currently consolidating this case with the fraud case involving two co-CEOs of the Pica Coin issuing company, which is under trial in the first instance. The next hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 20th of next month.

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