Former Bithumb CEO Lee Sang-jun has reportedly been sentenced to prison after being found guilty of receiving cash and gifts to participate in a fraudulent token listing scheme.
Local Korean news outlet The Hankyoreh reports that the Seoul Southern District Court sentenced the 55-year-old to two years behind bars and ordered him to pay a fine of 52 million won ($35,367) for receiving money and lavish items as bribes from businessman Kang Jong- hyun.
Kang reportedly spent 3 billion won (about $2 million) in cash and more than $272,000 on luxury watches, designer bags and exclusive restaurant membership cards to get a coin on Bithumb. Kang was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for breach of trust.
The bribery scheme also involved former professional golfer Ahn Sung-hyun, who served as an intermediary responsible for receiving and delivering the money and goods. The court found that he had defrauded Kang when he took a large portion of the money intended for Lee. Ahn was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Bithumb is South Korea’s largest crypto exchange by daily trading volume and a currency listing could potentially boost prices. The price of PONKE (PONKE) and Raydium (RAY) shot after the platform announced spot trading support for these two Solana (SOL)-based crypto assets last month.
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