A South Korean regulation agency operator was jailed in Busan on March 11 after being discovered responsible of stealing shoppers’ cash to spend on crypto investments.
The media outlet Newsis reported that the case was heard on the Prison Division of the Busan District Court docket. The court docket sentenced an unnamed particular person of their 50s to twenty months in jail.
South Korean Regulation Agency Boss ‘Embezzled Shopper Cash’
The lawyer stole $170,000 on December 27, 2021, the court docket heard. Prosecutors mentioned the lawyer transferred cash from an organization account into their private checking account.
The cash got here from a company shopper, who had given the cash to the agency to finish an actual property deal as a part of a belief contract.
Nevertheless, the court docket heard, the accused as an alternative “stole the cash and used it for private functions,” specifically crypto investments.
On one other event, the court docket heard, the South Korean regulation agency chief stole a registration payment from a non-public shopper value slightly below $1,700.
The crypto investments seem to have been ill-fated. Prosecutors mentioned they have been unable to retrieve any of the stolen funds.
The presiding decide, Justice Jeong Quickly-yeol of the District Court docket’s eleventh Prison Division, mentioned:
“The quantity of harm sustained is giant. And not one of the stolen cash has been recovered. Contemplating these components, I’ve no alternative however handy out a extreme punishment on this case.”
South Korean Metropolis Sees Rise in Crypto-related Crime?
Busan judges aren’t any stranger to crypto-related circumstances. In December final yr, police within the southern metropolis swooped on a gang of over 80 suspected crypto scammers.
In January, the identical division of the District Court docket jailed a drug seller, who used crypto as a fee software, for seven years.
Korean bankers misrepresented dangerous China-linked structured merchandise to retail traders, a watchdog says https://t.co/mLtYadfyqQ
— Bloomberg (@enterprise) March 11, 2024
Additionally in January, a district court docket in close by Changwon jailed a person who gave a bogus crypto trade unlawful financial institution paperwork. The court docket despatched the forger to jail for 4 years.