South Korean police summon Bithumb chairman for alleged fraud

Exchanges • September 18, 2020, 4:50AM EDT
UPDATED: September 18, 2020, 4:55AM EDT
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The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has reportedly summoned Lee Jung Hoon, the chairman of Bithumb, for alleged fraud.

South Korea's state-run news agency Yonhap reported Friday, saying that Lee, 44, is under investigation by the police. Lee is accused of pre-selling Bithumb's native BXA tokens worth about 30 billion won (~$25 million) to investors and then not listing the token, which has allegedly led to investors' losses.

Bithumb once issued BXA tokens concerning its acquisition by Singapore based BK Group, but that deal didn't materialize. Lee is also charged with evading property abroad.

BK Group chairman Kim Byung-Gun, 57, is also accused of the alleged fraud, but he is reportedly not under police investigation.

The summon follows two police raids on Bithumb in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the Seoul Central District Court is said to have also seized Kim's shares in Bithumb. Accounting giant Samjong KPMG reportedly oversaw the seizure.

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Yogita Khatri profile picture Yogita Khatri

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block and the author of The Funding newsletter. As our longest-serving editorial member, Yogita has been instrumental in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With over 3,000 articles to her name, Yogita is The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Before joining The Block, Yogita wrote for CoinDesk and The Economic Times. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her latest updates on X at @Yogita_Khatri5.

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