Former CEO of South Korean exchange jailed for 18 months over 110 BTC bribe

Former CEO of the now-defunct South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinnest was sentenced by the Supreme Court to 18 months in prison. He was found guilty of accepting 110 BTC as a bribe. reports Bitcoin.com citing local media.

According to case materials, in February 2018 the former director Kim Ik Hwan and the former chief operating officer Jung Mo received a bribe of 110 BTC (about $771,270 at the time) for listing the S-coin, which was issued by K Group.

Subsequently, they also received 2 million S-coin tokens with a total value of $125,500.

Prosecutors filed charges in September 2018.

Although the defendants did not admit guilt, the Supreme Court sentenced Kim to 18 months in prison for commercial bribery and imposed a fine of more than $61,000.

“Hwan manipulated market prices and obtained undue profits from it. Such actions undermine trust in the crypto industry, and are therefore unacceptable,” the prosecutor said.

The Supreme Court has not yet approved Jung Mo’s sentence.

As reported, Coinnest closed in April 2019, saying it could not cope with changes in the blockchain and crypto industry.

In February 2020, Kim Ik Hwan was convicted of fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation. The court found that he, together with other Coinnest executives, moved billions of won belonging to clients to employees’ accounts.

Three years in prison with a four-year suspended sentence, a fine of 2.5 million won (more than $2,260) and 100 hours of community service were imposed on Kim.

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