Prosecutors Arrest and Indict Organizer of 580 Billion Won 'Coin OTC' Black Market

Additional Indictment Against Lee Hee-jin Brothers, the 'Cheongdam-dong Stock Millionaires'

The CEO of an unregistered illegal virtual asset company, who promoted itself as the country's largest over-the-counter (OTC) exchange and facilitated money laundering by trading virtual assets worth 580 billion KRW OTC, has been brought to trial.

On the 12th, the Joint Investigation Team for Virtual Asset Crimes of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Lee Jeong-ryeol) announced that they have arrested and indicted the CEO of the OTC company, Mr. A (40), on charges including violation of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, and have indicted four employees without detention.

Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office Joint Investigation Team for Virtual Asset Crimes. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The company is accused of trading, exchanging, brokering, and mediating coins worth approximately 580 billion KRW from March 2021 to November last year without registering as a virtual asset service provider. Additionally, from May 2019 to November last year, it operated a currency exchange office and is charged with illegally exchanging and remitting about 7 billion KRW worth of Chinese yuan into Korean won without authorization.

The prosecution also filed additional charges against the "Cheongdam-dong Stock Rich" brothers, Lee Hee-jin (37) and Lee Hee-moon (35), for violating the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds, among other charges, for hiding 23.5 billion KRW from the sale of t-coins and misappropriating 5.6 billion KRW from the sale of g-coins through the OTC exchange.

They are accused of illegally converting approximately 23.5 billion KRW worth of t-coin sales proceeds into Bitcoin (BTC) through the illegal virtual asset operator Mr. A from February to July 2021, and hiding it by exchanging it into cash and nominee checks that are difficult for investigative agencies to trace.

Previously, from July 2020 to December 2021, they were arrested and indicted in October last year on charges of breach of trust for transferring about 5.6 billion KRW worth of Bitcoin (BTC) from g-coin sales proceeds held by the g-coin issuer to overseas exchange accounts and mixing it with personal assets.

A prosecution official stated, "We will continue to strictly respond to virtual asset traders who violate anti-money laundering systems and criminals who conceal proceeds related to virtual assets, doing our best to maintain order in the virtual asset market and protect honest market participants."