{"id":169099,"date":"2023-01-03T09:26:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T09:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=169099"},"modified":"2023-01-03T09:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T09:26:04","slug":"bithumb-former-chair-lee-jung-hoon-acquitted-in-the-first-instance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/crypto\/bithumb-former-chair-lee-jung-hoon-acquitted-in-the-first-instance\/","title":{"rendered":"Bithumb former chair Lee Jung-Hoon acquitted in the first instance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lee Jung-hoon, the former chair of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found not guilty on Jan. 3 by the 34th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Central District Court.<\/p>\n
Jung-Hoon was on trial under accusations of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment Of Specific Economic Crimes due to fraud.<\/p>\n
The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chairman allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chairman of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group.<\/p>\n
Jung-hoon could\u2019ve faced an 8-year sentence had he been found guilty. According to the local press, in its official response to the ruling, Bithumb said it respects the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
The exchange also clarified that it is under \u201cprofessional managers\u201d and the former chairman is not involved in current operations.<\/p>\n
Almost a week prior to the ruling, on Dec. 30 Bithumb\u2019s largest shareholder executive Park Mo was found dead after he received allegations of embezzlement and manipulation of stock prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Related: <\/u><\/em><\/strong>South Korea investigates crypto exchanges for listing native tokens<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n These developments followed a decision by Singaporean courts back in Aug. 2022, which found Byung-gun guilty of selling BXA tokens without the consent of Jung-hoon.<\/p>\n The ruling ordered him to return all proceeds from the sale of BXA back to the Singapore-based group BTHMB.<\/p>\n Later in October 2022, Jung-hoon failed to attend a parliamentary hearing during the Terra ecosystem turmoil, citing a mental health disorder.<\/p>\n Bithumb was one of the\u00a0companies raided by South Korean authorities in the aftermath of the Terra Luna collapse.<\/p>\n After the collapse, exchanges in South Korea created an emergency system as a preventative measure in case of a feature Terra-style incident. To ensure compliance with local regulations, all local exchanges must now list tokens based on the same guidelines.<\/p>\n