Lee Sang-jun (54), CEO of Bithumb Holdings, and An Seong-hyun (42), a professional golfer and husband of Sung Yu-ri, have been indicted on charges of receiving money and valuables in exchange for coin listings.
On the 8th, the Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Chae Hee-man) announced that Lee and An were indicted without detention on charges including breach of trust and acceptance of bribes. Businessman Kang Jong-hyun (41) and a coin issuing company official, Mr. A (38), were indicted on charges of mediation of breach of trust. Kang was already detained and on trial since February on charges including breach of trust and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and fraudulent unfair trading under the Capital Markets Act.
According to the prosecution, from September to November 2021, Lee and An received a total of 3 billion KRW in cash, two luxury watches worth about 400 million KRW, and membership benefits worth 11.5 million KRW at a members-only restaurant from Kang and Mr. A in exchange for a request to list specific coins on the virtual asset exchange Bithumb. Lee also received luxury goods worth about 44 million KRW, including luxury bags and high-end clothing, upon Kang's request to expedite the listing of these coins.
An was also charged with fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for falsely claiming around January 2022 that "Lee is urgently requesting 2 billion KRW for the listing fee," thereby embezzling 2 billion KRW in cash from Kang for personal use.
The prosecution found that the coins Kang and Mr. A sought to list through their requests were "poor-quality coins." These coins either had no linked business at all or claimed to be related to a golf platform business but lacked clear substance, making normal listing difficult. After listing, Kang and Mr. A intended to induce investors by rapidly inflating prices through professional market makers (MM) and then sell the quantities held by the issuing companies to gain hundreds of billions of KRW in short-term trading profits.
Additionally, the prosecution stated that even large virtual asset exchanges like Bithumb proceeded with listing procedures without reasonable standards. Whether to list a virtual asset was decided according to the exchange's own criteria, and there was no system to manage or supervise the fairness of the listing process or the presence of acts that could disrupt trading order, resulting in many cases of "blind" listings and delistings. At Bithumb, the decision to list was made by a small number of executives and employees, and the review process was not transparently disclosed, creating strong incentives for illegal requests to secure listings.
A prosecution official said, "Considering the rapid growth of the virtual asset market, fairness and integrity equivalent to those of financial institutions are required for exchange executives and employees," adding, "It is necessary to severely punish virtual asset corruption on par with corruption by financial institution employees." Financial company employees who receive, demand, or promise money or benefits related to their duties can be punished under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
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