Hold onto your crypto hats, folks, because Bithumb is back in the legal spotlight! This South Korean crypto exchange just can't seem to shake off the drama, and it's giving us more plot twists than a soap opera.
Picture this: Prosecutors in South Korea are hot on the heels of Bithumb, launching an investigation into some eyebrow-raising allegations. Apparently, company funds were used to make a rather cozy apartment purchase for its former CEO. Talk about mixing business with pleasure!
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office swooped in like a scene from a detective movie, raiding Bithumb's headquarters in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. The buzz is that Bithumb shelled out a cool 3 billion won (that's about $2.2 million) to Kim Dae-sik, their former big boss, who's now an advisor.
And where did this cash go? Well, there's a sneaky suspicion that it helped pay for a swanky apartment deposit in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. Apparently, the apartment's value shot up like a rocket in 2023, with a chunk of the funds allegedly going towards some personal spending sprees.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has been playing detective on this case for a while and has now passed the baton to the prosecution team. In a candid chat with The Chosun Daily, a Bithumb spokesperson admitted that some of these juicy rumors are true. They mentioned that Kim took out a loan to pay back the apartment funds after the FSS started sniffing around.
But wait, there's more! Bithumb isn't new to the legal rodeo. They made headlines earlier in 2023 when their offices were searched alongside Upbit's in connection to South Korean lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk's crypto dealings. Kim was caught trading crypto during parliamentary sessions, and it turns out he had a stash of roughly $4.5 million worth of Wemix coins on both platforms. Talk about multitasking!
And if that's not enough, Bithumb faced another storm in January of the same year when their offices were raided over allegations of price manipulation of their very own BXA (Bithumb Coin). This drama unfolded just as prosecutors were seeking an arrest warrant for Kang Jong-hyun, the suspected puppet master behind Bithumb's operations. Kang was accused of embezzling and playing the market like a fiddle, with a whopping $49 million vanishing into the ether.
But it wasn't just Kang in the hot seat. Bithumb's former CEO, Lee Sang-jun, and pro golfer Ahn Sung-hyun were also caught up in the scandal. Lee was accused of pulling the strings on stock prices and pocketing bribes to give certain tokens a VIP treatment, while Ahn allegedly helped make these shady deals happen.
In a dramatic courtroom finale on December 26, 2024, Lee was handed a two-year prison sentence, Ahn got four-and-a-half years, and Kang walked away with a year and a half behind bars. So, folks, the Bithumb saga continues, and we can't wait to see what twists and turns are next in this crypto thriller!
