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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] A South Korean appeals court has reduced the sentence of Lee Sang-jun, former chief executive of Bithumb Holdings, who was accused of accepting illegal listing fees in exchange for cryptocurrency listings, granting him a suspended prison term.
On February 2, the Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 13 sentenced Lee to two years in prison, suspended for three years, and ordered him to forfeit KRW 11.51 million. This marks a significant reduction from the trial court’s ruling, which had sentenced him to two years in prison and imposed forfeiture of KRW 50.03 million.
Businessman Kang, who was indicted on charges of offering bribes in breach of trust, also saw his sentence reduced from 18 months in prison to one year in prison, suspended for two years. Meanwhile, Ahn Sung-jae, who had received a four-year and six-month prison sentence at the trial court for accepting bribes, was acquitted on appeal.
The appeals court found that Lee held a position that allowed him to exert substantial influence over the token listing review process, noting that Bithumb Korea and Bithumb Holdings operated in practice as a single organization. The court rejected Lee’s claim that the items he received were merely social gifts.
The court ruled that luxury items—including a Patek Philippe watch, an Hermès bag, and a high-end restaurant membership—received by Lee from Kang constituted improper benefits given in exchange for requests to list a specific cryptocurrency on the Bithumb exchange.
However, the appellate panel concluded that Ahn should be viewed as a provider of valuables rather than a recipient, finding no direct evidence that he conspired in advance with Lee. The court said Ahn appeared to have acted as an intermediary who relayed Kang’s request to Lee.
Allegations that Kang had delivered KRW 3–5 billion in cash to Ahn were dismissed due to inconsistent testimony and insufficient evidence. As a result, portions of the charges alleging that Lee and Kang conspired with Ahn were also overturned.
Ultimately, the court upheld convictions only for the valuables directly provided by Kang to Lee, significantly narrowing the scope of criminal liability compared with the first-instance ruling.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
