Prosecutors have filed an appeal after former Wemade CEO Hyunguk Jang (currently CEO of Nexth) was acquitted in the first trial on charges of manipulating the circulation volume of the cryptocurrency WEMIX to inflate the company's stock price.
Former Wemade CEO Hyunguk Jang, who was indicted without detention on charges of manipulating the circulation volume of the cryptocurrency WEMIX, is leaving the court after being acquitted at the first trial sentencing held on the 15th at the Seoul Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
According to the legal community on July 18, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office submitted an appeal to the Seoul Southern District Court, which presided over Jang's first trial, the previous day.
Jang was accused of engaging in unfair trading and market manipulation by disposing of approximately 300 billion won worth of WEMIX after announcing in 2022, while serving as CEO of Wemade, that he would "suspend the liquidity of WEMIX coins."
The prosecution sought a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 200 million won for Jang, and a fine of 500 million won for Wemade, alleging that investors were misled by Jang's statement into purchasing WEMIX coins, which in turn boosted Wemade's stock price. However, at the first trial on July 15, the court ruled that it was difficult to conclude that the rise in Wemade's stock price was solely due to the increase in the price of WEMIX coins, and acquitted Jang.
The court stated, "The Capital Markets Act regulates financial investment products, and in this case, the product in question is Wemade stock, not the virtual asset WEMIX." The court determined that Jang's 2022 statement about "suspending the liquidity of WEMIX coins" was unrelated to Wemade's stock price. As Jang was acquitted at the first trial, Wemade, which was indicted under the joint penal provision, was also found not guilty.
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