South Korean authorities have reportedly convicted two top executives of the crypto exchange Bitsonic.
According to local news agency Newsis, the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Bitsonic CEO Jinwook Shin to seven years in prison during his first trial on charges of defrauding exchange users.
Shin allegedly manipulated the price of Bitsonic’s native token from January 2019 to May 2021 and set up a paper company to inflate the platform’s sales and operating profits.
The report says the exchange recruited 101 users, of whom Shin received 10 billion won, or about $7.5 million, in cash and virtual assets that would supposedly be used as deposits and funds.
Bitsonic CTO Bae Mo was also sentenced to one year in prison. He was accused of helping create and run a computer program used to manipulate the price of the exchange’s token.
The court’s chief judge, Lee Jong-chae, said the 43-year-old acted according to Shin’s instructions and did not appear to play a leading role in the overall crime.
According to the report, Lee says:
“The credibility of virtual exchange assets has been significantly diminished by the creation of a program that undermines the intrinsic function of the exchange.”
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