Former Bithumb Holdings CEO Sentenced to 4.5 Years for Bribery

The former CEO of Bithumb Holding, An Seong-hun, has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. The decision was handed down by the Seoul Southern District Court on December 26, according to local media.

Court documents reveal that between September and November 2021, An Seong-hun, along with another former CEO of Bithumb Holdings, Lee Sang-jun, received a request from the alleged beneficial owner of Bithumb, Kang Jong-hyun, to list an unnamed coin on the exchange.

As compensation, Kang allegedly gave them 3 billion won ($2.04 million) in cash, two wristwatches valued at 400 million won (over $273,000), and provided membership benefits at a restaurant. Additionally, An deceitfully extracted an extra 2 billion won ($1.3 million) from Kang. The court confirmed An’s guilt in accepting the bribe.

Lee Sang-jun received a two-year prison sentence with the confiscation of 52 million won (~$35,500), while Kang Jong-hyun was sentenced to one and a half years. This is linked to Kang’s admission of receiving watches and bags from Lee in exchange for the listing.

The representative of the coin issuer was found not guilty in the case.

In September 2020, police conducted a series of raids on offices associated with Bithumb companies as part of an investigation into alleged fraud involving a $25 million BXA token sale.

At that time, authorities summoned the then-current CEO of the exchange and Bithumb Holdings beneficiary, Lee Jung-hoon, for questioning. He faced up to eight years in prison on charges of defrauding investors. However, he was later acquitted.

In January 2023, the Seoul prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for the alleged owner of the Bithumb exchange, Kang Jong-hyun, on suspicion of embezzlement and stock price manipulation of several affiliated firms.