Won Young-sik, chairman of Chorokbaem Group, who is suspected of being involved in the Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange stock manipulation case, is heading to the courtroom to attend the warrant hearing held at the Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 29th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Won Young-sik (62), chairman of Chorokbaem Group, who is suspected of being involved in stock price manipulation by Kang Jong-hyun (41), known as the actual owner of the cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, has been detained by the prosecution.
On the 29th, Judge Kim Ji-suk, in charge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court, conducted a pre-arrest interrogation of Chairman Won and issued an arrest warrant, citing concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk.
Earlier, on the 27th, the Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (led by Chief Prosecutor Chae Hee-man) requested an arrest warrant for Chairman Won on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
Chorokbaem Group is known to have earned significant profits by investing over 100 billion won in convertible bonds (CB) issued by Vidente, the largest shareholder of Bithumb, and its affiliate Bucket Studio.
The prosecution believes that Chairman Won effectively acted as a 'financial source' for Kang's stock price manipulation.
Kang, known as the actual owner of Bithumb, was arrested and indicted in February on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act and embezzlement and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
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