Bithumb's de facto owner acquitted of fraud

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- The de facto owner of the operator of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb was acquitted Tuesday on charges of defrauding a businessman.

The Seoul Central District Court delivered a not guilty verdict for the owner, only identified by his surname Lee, saying the prosecution's evidence does not show that he had purposely defrauded the victim.

Lee was indicted on charges of stealing around 112 billion won (US$88.1 million) after offering the takeover of Bithumb to the chairman of BK Group, only identified by his surname Kim, prosecutors said.

In the process, Lee allegedly promised Kim that the unlisted coin called BXA would get issued and listed, they said. Kim then used part of the down payment with the payment earned from pre-selling BXA.

However, BXA coins were not listed and the takeover of Bithumb Korea eventually fell through as well.

The court said Tuesday that it cannot accept that Lee had promised the listing of the coins based on a contract between Lee and the victim.

Investors who suffered huge losses due to BXA coins initially filed a complaint against both Lee and Kim of alleged fraudulent sales of BXA coins.

But prosecutors dismissed investors' claims that Lee and Kim had conspired in the sales, and concluded that Kim was also the victim of fraudulent acts by Lee.

khj@yna.co.kr
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