'6.3 Billion Fraud Damage'... 50s Sentenced to 5 Years for Attacking CEO of Virtual Asset Company

First Trial Verdict... "Very Significant Social Adverse Impact"
Accused of Stabbing Haru Invest CEO with a Weapon

A man in his 50s who assaulted a fraud perpetrator in court was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial. It is known that this man was defrauded of virtual assets worth approximately 6.3 billion KRW by the fraud perpetrator, who was the victim of the assault.

According to the legal community on the 6th, the Criminal Division 12 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Kim Jeong-gon) sentenced Kang Mo (51), who was indicted on charges including attempted murder, to five years in prison on the 4th. The court stated, "The criminal act (in court) not only severely threatens the victim's life and physical safety but also undermines the court's judicial function and causes distrust and anxiety about the safety of public spaces," adding, "The culpability is not light, and the social adverse impact is very significant." It further added, "Private sanctions that unjustly infringe on an individual's legal interests cannot be permitted under any circumstances in our legal order."

Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Kang's defense attorney claimed that there was no intent to kill the victim and that Kang was in a state of diminished mental capacity at the time of the crime, but the court did not accept this. The National Forensic Service's psychiatric evaluation also confirmed that Kang was not in a state of diminished mental capacity.

Kang was arrested and indicted on charges of stabbing Lee Mo, the CEO of the virtual asset deposit service company Haru Invest, with a weapon on August 28 last year at the defendant's seat in the Southern District Court. Lee was on trial for fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Lee was arrested and indicted in February last year on charges of embezzling approximately 1.4 trillion KRW by deceiving customers, including Kang, from March 2020 to June 2023 by operating virtual asset deposits, guaranteeing principal, and promising the highest returns in the industry.