Lee Jeong-hoon, the former chair of Bithumb, one of South Korea’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, is at the center of a legal battle and might face an eight-year prison sentence, with a verdict scheduled for Jan. 18, 2024.
According to Korean local media reports, prosecutors contend that Lee intended to revamp Bithumb’s governance to gain from exchange tokens, circumventing financial regulations. The case has been ongoing since October 2018, when the former chair allegedly defrauded 100 billion won ($70 million) during negotiations for the acquisition of Bithumb from Kim Byung-gun, chair of the cosmetic surgery company BK Group. Prosecutors claim Lee knew about challenges in the BXA token listing but didn’t disclose it to Kim. Despite listing issues, Lee purportedly received payments without informing Kim about the decision not to list the BXA token.