Prosecutors crack down on BTC embezzlement of nearly 180 million pounds, with 80% of the funds' whereabouts unknown. Korean media: USB, cold wallets, and overseas exchanges add to investigation difficulties.

According to local media reports, a gambling website in South Korea, mainly focused on predicting the rise and fall of BTC prices, has been prosecuted by the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor claimed that the main suspect, Mr. Lee, had transferred most of the ill-gotten gains, nearly 1,800 BTC (currently worth nearly 180 million won), to overseas exchanges and later falsely claimed to have been stolen. However, the judge in the second trial found no evidence that Mr. Lee had taken action to conceal the proceeds of the crime and decided not to confiscate the stolen 1,476 BTC.

BTC, as chips for illegal gambling websites, has illegal gains of nearly 2 trillion.

The Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office recently filed a non-arrest prosecution against Lee, the person in charge of an overseas illegal gambling website, for the crime of illegal gambling, with an estimated illegal income of nearly 2 trillion won. The prosecution stated that in addition to the crime of operating a gambling establishment, Lee was also charged with concealing criminal proceeds and false accusation. Earlier, in May last year, the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office went to Lee's home to execute a search and seizure warrant.

It is understood that the operation of the website is to bet points based on the betting results of the rise or fall of the BTC price. From April 2018 to August 2021, Mr. Li received 24,613 BTC through an intermediary in Thailand.

Korean National Police Agency: Number of cryptocurrency crimes increases 2.5 times in four years

In 2022, the Gwangju Police Department confiscated Mr. Lee's criminal proceeds of 1,798 BTC. However, only 320 BTC were eventually confiscated, and Mr. Lee claimed that the remaining 1,476 BTC were stolen under police custody. However, the police did not find evidence to prove that the BTC was stolen, so the prosecutor also charged Mr. Lee with false accusation.

In February of last year, Li was charged with opening a gambling establishment and violating the Law on Control and Punishment of Concealed Criminal Proceeds, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. The second trial reduced the sentence to 2 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 1.52 billion Korean won. However, the second trial judge stated that there was no evidence to show Li's involvement in the disappearance of BTC, so the part involving 1,476 BTC was not traced.

Korean media also pointed out that the process of confiscating cryptocurrencies by investigative agencies is very difficult, and the stolen funds may be hidden in personal hard drives or overseas exchanges, which often do not cooperate with investigations, increasing the difficulty of cracking down. In addition, according to statistics from the police department, the number of cryptocurrency-related crimes in Korea increased from 289 people in 2019 to 988 people in 2023, an increase of 241.8% over four years, and this number seems to have a positive correlation with market conditions.

This article, the prosecutor cracked down on BTC embezzlement of nearly 180 million pounds, 80% of which is unknown. Korean media: USB, cold wallet, overseas exchange increase the difficulty of investigation. First appeared on Chain News ABMedia.