'Large-scale Customer Data Leak' Bithumb Acquitted in Second Trial

A Fine of 30 Million Won Imposed in the First Trial
"Possibility of Criminal Punishment Disappeared Due to Abolition of the Law"

Yonhap News

Lee Jung-hoon, the former chairman of the Bithumb Holdings board and the actual owner of the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, who was prosecuted for a large-scale customer information leak and cryptocurrency theft incident, received a dismissal verdict in the appellate trial.

The Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Appeals Division 1-3 (Chief Judge Kim Sung-hoon) on the 16th issued a dismissal verdict, unlike the first trial which sentenced Chairman Lee and Bithumb Korea to a fine of 30 million won for violating the Information and Communications Network Act.

A dismissal verdict is a ruling given when criminal jurisdiction initially arose but later extinguished due to certain reasons. It is a judgment that terminates the criminal trial without judicial consideration, due to reasons such as the statute of limitations expiring or the relevant law being amended or repealed after the crime.

The court stated, "The provisions of Article 75 and Article 73(1) of the Information and Communications Network Act, which the prosecution applied to the charges, were deleted on February 4, 2020," and added, "Since the punishment was abolished, the possibility of criminal punishment against the defendant disappeared, so there is no need for substantive judgment."

It further explained, "If the punishment provisions of the previous law are changed so that the act no longer constitutes a crime, the new law should be applied in principle without examining the reasons for the change."

Previously, Judge Lee Hyung-joo of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 2, who presided over the first trial, sentenced former Chairman Lee and Bithumb Korea corporation to a fine of 30 million won each on February 12, 2020.

In 2017, Bithumb suffered a hacking attack using an email containing malicious software sent to the former head Lee, resulting in the leakage of over 31,000 customer personal information records. From May to October of the same year, a cyberattack caused hackers to steal cryptocurrency worth 7 billion won held by 243 customers.

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