50s Man Who Wielded a Weapon During Trial for 1 Trillion Won Cryptocurrency Scam Arrested

Court Issues Arrest Warrant Citing "Risk of Flight"

A man in his 50s who stabbed the CEO of a virtual asset custody service company with a weapon in court while on trial for suspicions of halting withdrawals of virtual assets (coins) worth over 1 trillion won has been detained.

Han Jeong-seok, the warrant judge at Seoul Southern District Court, held a pre-arrest detention hearing for suspect A, who is charged with attempted murder, on the 30th and issued an arrest warrant, citing "risk of flight."

A man in his 50s, Mr. A, who stabbed the CEO of a virtual asset deposit service company with a weapon in court while the CEO was on trial for suspending withdrawals of virtual assets (coins) worth over 1 trillion won, is attending a warrant hearing at the Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 30th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

A is accused of stabbing Lee, the CEO of Haru Invest, in the neck with a weapon while sitting in the defendant's seat during a court hearing on the 3rd floor of the Southern District Court on the 28th. Lee's life is not in danger. During police investigation, A claimed to be a victim of the withdrawal suspension incident and reportedly stated that he committed the crime out of dissatisfaction with the losses caused by the withdrawal suspension.

Arriving at the court in a police escort vehicle around 10 a.m. that day, A headed to the courtroom without responding to reporters' questions such as "How did you bring the weapon in?" and "Did you commit the crime out of resentment over coin losses?"

It was revealed that he passed through a security checkpoint equipped with metal detection before entering the courtroom, raising concerns about the court's security system. According to the police's confirmation with the manufacturer, the weapon A brought in was made of stainless steel, a metallic material. A told the police that he put a kitchen knife purchased months ago at a nearby mart into his bag and brought it into the courtroom.

The police are analyzing CCTV footage from the time to investigate how the weapon was brought in and whether the security checkpoint's X-ray machine was operational. They have also requested the attendance of three security checkpoint personnel at the time?two social service workers and one court employee?for witness questioning, but this has not yet taken place.

Meanwhile, Lee was arrested and indicted in February on charges of deceiving customers by promising risk-free operations that guaranteed principal and paid the highest returns in the industry, thereby embezzling coins worth approximately 1.4 trillion won from March 2020 to June last year. He was released on bail on the 25th of last month and is currently standing trial without detention.

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