Seven executives from the now-defunct South Korean scam cryptocurrency exchange V Global were recently sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their roles in one of the country’s biggest cryptocurrency scams.
The Verdict Establishes a New Standard
Seven former masterminds of the now-defunct V Global ponzi scheme were recently sentenced to prison for their roles in the misappropriation of nearly $1.9 billion in investor funds. Lee Byung-gul, the entity’s CEO at the time the funds went missing, received a 22-year sentence, while his accomplices received sentences ranging from four to fourteen years.
According to Forkast, Lee Byung-gul and his fellow executives were sentenced to prison a month after prosecutors requested life sentences. Prosecutors argued at the time that giving the offenders life sentences would reflect the seriousness of the crimes.
However, according to the report, the CEO’s and his co-conspirators’ jail sentences are closer to the most severe punishments usually meted out to property crime offenders. The outcome of one of South Korea’s biggest crypto-scams could set a precedent for the legal penalties meted out to those who commit crypto-related crimes.
The majority of investors were wiped out.
Meanwhile, according to the report, the majority of the victims of the crypto scam were middle-aged or senior citizens, according to a lawyer representing some of the victims. Han Sang-jun, a lawyer with the Daegun law firm, said:
The majority of the victims were middle-aged or senior citizens who hoped to retire to a secure life.
One of the 52,419 investors who lost their money has already committed suicide, according to the lawyer. While some investors received a portion of their money, the majority of the victims, according to the report, lost everything.
Many of V Global’s victims were enticed into the scam by promises of guaranteed returns of more than 300 percent on investments of $5,000 or six million Korean won. V Global investors who brought in new participants were promised a $1,000 commission in addition to the “guaranteed” return.
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