South Korean business media “Hankyung” reported that the criminal court of the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea acquitted Lee Jung-hoon, the former chairman of Bithumb, in the first instance of the “suspected 100 billion won fraud lawsuit”.
Earlier, South Korean prosecutors asked the court to sentence Bithumb’s actual owner, Lee Jung-hoon, to eight years in prison.
It is reported that Lee Jung-hoon and BK Group Chairman Kim Byung-gun negotiated to sell Bithumb shares in 2018. During the process, Kim Byung-gun, after hearing Lee Jung-hoon’s statement that “BXA (Bithumb token) will be listed on Bithumb”, bought it with part of the proceeds from the BXA pre-sale. Bithumb’s shares, but BXA was not listed on Bithumb, and BK Group’s acquisition of Bithumb did not come to an end.
Li Zhengxun was therefore accused by the prosecution of defrauding as much as 112 billion won in the name of “listing BXA tokens”, but was acquitted in the first instance.
In this regard, Bithumb said, “We respect the court’s ruling,” adding, “Bithumb operates under the professional manager system, and former chairman Li Zhengxun does not participate in the management of Bithumb.”
