▲ Mr. Lee, the real owner of Bitsum, accused of '100 billion fraud'
The actual owner of the virtual currency exchange Bithumb, who was handed over to trial for a fraud case of 100 billion won, was acquitted in the first trial.
The 34th Criminal Agreement Division of the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Lee Mo, former chairman of the board of directors of Bithumb Holdings and Bithumb Korea, who was charged with fraud under the Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Economic Crimes.
The judge judged, "Only the evidence submitted by the prosecutor cannot admit that Mr. Lee confirmed the listing of the coin in the contract with the victim."
In October 2018, while proposing the acquisition of Bithumb to Mr. Kim, chairman of BK Group, Mr. Lee deceived that he would issue so-called 'Bithumb Coin' (BXA) and list it on Bithumb, and was accused of stealing about 112 billion won in the name of down payment. receive.
Mr. Kim believed Mr. Lee's words and used some of the proceeds from the pre-sale of BXA as funds to buy shares in Bithumb.
However, BXA was not listed on Bithumb, and Mr. Kim's acquisition of Bithumb also failed.
Victims who invested in BXA sued Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim, but the investigative agency did not prosecute Mr. Kim as a victim deceived by Mr. Lee.
In his final statement on October 25 last year, Mr. Lee claimed, "I appointed a large law firm and signed a contract based on a contract made by a lawyer." .
(Photo = Yonhap News)