Lee Jung-hoon, the previous chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency change Bithumb, was discovered not responsible on Jan. 3 by the thirty fourth Division of the Legal Settlement of the Seoul Central District Court docket.
Jung-Hoon was on trial beneath accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Particular Financial Crimes on account of fraud.
The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the previous chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion gained ($70 million) throughout negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the beauty surgical procedure firm BK Group.
Jung-hoon might’ve confronted an 8-year sentence had he been discovered responsible. In accordance with the native press, in its official response to the ruling, Bithumb mentioned it respects the court docket’s resolution.
The change additionally clarified that it’s beneath “skilled managers” and the previous chairman shouldn’t be concerned in present operations.
Nearly per week previous to the ruling, on Dec. 30 Bithumb’s largest shareholder govt Park Mo was discovered lifeless after he obtained allegations of embezzlement and manipulation of inventory costs.
Associated: South Korea investigates crypto exchanges for itemizing native tokens
These developments adopted a choice by Singaporean courts again in Aug. 2022, which discovered Byung-gun responsible of promoting BXA tokens with out the consent of Jung-hoon.
The ruling ordered him to return all proceeds from the sale of BXA again to the Singapore-based group BTHMB.
Later in October 2022, Jung-hoon did not attend a parliamentary listening to in the course of the Terra ecosystem turmoil, citing a psychological well being dysfunction.
Bithumb was one of many firms raided by South Korean authorities within the aftermath of the Terra Luna collapse.
After the collapse, exchanges in South Korea created an emergency system as a preventative measure in case of a characteristic Terra-style incident. To make sure compliance with native rules, all native exchanges should now record tokens based mostly on the identical tips.
