Police Raid Domestic Cryptocurrency Exchanges... 240 Billion Won Seized and Preserved

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The police have detected signs of a pyramid scheme at a domestic cryptocurrency exchange and have launched a forced investigation.

The Violent Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency announced on the 4th that they conducted searches and seizures at 22 locations, including the headquarters of cryptocurrency exchange A located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and the residences of its executives and employees, freezing assets worth 240 billion KRW.

The search and seizure were reportedly carried out to secure evidence related to violations of the Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business Without Permission and fraud charges against Mr. Lee and others, representatives of exchange A.

Mr. Lee and others are suspected of receiving approximately 1.7 trillion KRW from about 40,000 members from August last year to recently by requiring each member to open at least one account worth 6 million KRW as a condition for joining exchange A. It is reported that they recruited members by promising various profits and allowances.

The police believe that most of the deposited money was used in a Ponzi scheme. Additionally, the police applied for pre-indictment seizure of 240 billion KRW remaining in exchange A’s accounts.

Meanwhile, the government is conducting a special crackdown on illegal cryptocurrency activities at the intergovernmental level until June.