Gangnam Kidnapping and Murder Case Coin CEO Referred for Lobbying Government Officials

The CEO of the company that issued FurEver Coin, which triggered the Gangnam kidnapping and murder case, has been referred to the prosecution on charges of lobbying public officials at the time of the coin's listing.

On the 6th, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that on the 30th of last month, they had sent Lee Mo (59), the CEO of UniNetwork, the issuer of FurEver, to prosecution without detention on charges of bribery and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

Lee is accused of giving virtual currency to a public official along with a request to facilitate promotion when listing FurEver on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinone in November 2020. The former Ministry of the Interior and Safety official Park Mo, who received the virtual currency, was investigated for handing over official documents related to fine dust policies to UniNetwork. Park was sent to prosecution without detention on charges of bribery and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

Jung Mo (69), president of the Korea BCPI Association, a disaster safety education and certification institution and an economic partner of Lee, was also sent to prosecution without detention on charges of bribery and violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. Jung is known to have helped Lee certify FurEver and handed virtual currency to Park. In July 2021, Lee and Jung respectively deposited 150,000 and 100,000 FurEver coins into Park’s virtual currency wallet. At that time, the market value of 250,000 FurEver coins was approximately 7.19 million KRW.

In May, the police conducted searches and seizures at Lee’s residence, office, and Coinone. They proved the charges while investigating the overall suspicions based on the list of UniNetwork’s “Fine Dust Management Committee,” which included about 20 people such as current and former public officials and university professors.

Lee was abroad when the Gangnam kidnapping and murder incident occurred in March but returned to Korea in June and was investigated. In July, the police applied for arrest warrants for Lee and two others, but the court dismissed the request.