Six execs from crypto firm V Global have received prison sentences for their role in defrauding around 50,000 investors out of roughly $1.5 billion.
Three executives were not held so they could defend themselves against specific charges in court, while six executives implicated in the $1.5 billion (2 trillion won) South Korean cryptocurrency exchange fraud V Global have received prison sentences of up to eight years.
Between July 2020 and April 2021, V Global was in operation. It attracted about 50,000 investors by promising 300% returns as well as sizeable payments for referring new clients.
Two senior executives, Mr. Yang and Mr. Oh, received eight years and three years in prison, respectively, for their roles in cheating investors, according to translations of Dec. 26 reports from South Korean media outlets like Economist.co.kr.
Five years of probation and three-year sentences were given to four other unnamed executives. However, three of the total six have not yet been imprisoned since they have asserted their innocence in relation to specific accusations and have the right to legal representation. The judge from the 12th Criminal Division of the Suwon District Court said:
“The defendants only trusted the VGlobal management team, evaded responsibility, and once the investigation began, they destroyed evidence and interfered with the investigation,”
However, the judge reportedly showed the defendants some compassion because the true scope of the scam and the number of investors affected were less than first believed the previous year.
This was due to further evidence suggesting that approximately 10,000 investors had actually received returns from V Global through payments from multilevel marketing incentives including customer recruiting bonuses, according to Kyeongin’s reporting from February.
Before the platform was shut down, many are claimed to have invested those gains back into it. Back in June of last year, allegations surfaced that the company had paid out its $1,000 client referral bonuses to current investors in a Ponzi-like scheme using the money influx from new customers.
Seven V Global executives are now incarcerated as a result of the most recent legal development; the CEO, known as Mr. Lee, was previously given a 22-year prison term.
