Several executives affiliated with the troubled cryptocurrency yield platform Haru Invest, which halted withdrawals in June 2023, have been arrested and detained by South Korean prosecutors.
Yonhap, a local news agency, reported on February 6 that the virtual asset crime investigation branch of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office had arrested three key individuals responsible for Haru Invest.
According to the prosecution, the detained individuals included the CEO of Haru Invest and two other executives. The executives are suspected of stealing 1.1 trillion won (equivalent to $830 million) in cryptocurrency from sixteen thousand Haru Invest clients.
The prosecution alleges that between March 2020 and June 2023, executives of Haru Invest misappropriated the majority of customer deposits of coins through asset reinvestment. The executives misrepresented Haru’s operations as a stable enterprise employing “risk-free diversified investment techniques.”
Haru Invest issued an additional “no information” statement shortly before the latest development. The company informed X on February 4 that “no significant updates are available this week.” Hugo Lee, CEO of Haru Invest, affixes his signature to the statement. The passage is as follows:
“As of now, no information is available regarding the investigations and overall situation following the detention of Bang Jun-ho, the major shareholder of B&S Holdings. We continue our various efforts for asset recovery as we have been doing.”
On June 13, 2023, Haru Invest angrily halted withdrawals. Additionally, the following day, withdrawals ceased at Delio, a depository and management company with a portion of its funds with Haru Invest.
According to a subsequent claim by Haru Invest, B&S Holdings, previously referred to as Aventus, was the consignment operator, which attributed the problems to the company’s alleged fraudulent activities.
Launched in 2019, Haru Invest operated a cryptocurrency yield platform, promoting its offerings to investors to accrue annual interest rates of 12% on deposits denominated in cryptocurrencies.
In June 2023, Delio and other impacted investors initiated a class-action lawsuit against Haru after the cessation of withdrawals.
