Bitcoin trader sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined $1.1 million

Joseph Kim, a former trader who worked for Consolidated Trading LLC, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Friday for defrauding investors. In addition to the jail sentence, the 24-year-old was awarded a permanent trading ban and a $1,146,000 fine to pay restitution to his former employer and clients. According to Chicago Sun-Times, Kim was the first person in Chicago to be charged with wire fraud related to cryptocurrency.

From September to November 2017, Kim stole $3.2 million in Bitcoin from Consolidated Trading LLC to cover his own trading losses, although he later returned about $1.2 million. After getting fired from the firm, Kim was able to raise several hundred thousand dollars in Arizona and then proceeded to lose it as well. According to Kim’s attorney, Kim did not spend any money but rather lost it all trading. Kim's motivation was supposedly to recover from debt. Kim will start his prison sentence in May after completing the first year at Arizona State University. (Source: Chicago Sun-Times)