Two leaders of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Komid were reportedly sentenced to serve jail time for faking exchange volumes, Korean crypto media outlet blockinpress reports on Jan. 18.
The exchange’s CEO, surnamed Choi, received a three-year sentence, while another company leader with an unspecified role was purportedly sentenced to two years imprisonment for fraud, embezzlement and misconduct, the article notes.
The charges reportedly outline a scheme where the exchange faked 5 million transactions in order to inflate the volume, which reportedly earned them $45 million. It is also suspected that the company used a bot to automatically create large orders and attract new users. The article quotes the judge saying:
“Choi Soon and others have repeatedly committed fraud over a considerable period of time for a large number of unspecified victims. The defendant blames the financial authorities for failing to repent of the mistakes and is transferring responsibility.”
As Cointelegraph reported in December of last year, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit denied accusations it had manipulated its order book after regulators indicted three of its staff.
Citing reports from the Seoul District Prosecutors Office, The Korea Times said at the time that two senior executives from Upbit’s developer Dunamu and one Upbit employee have been indicted, but not detained, as part of an investigation into the proceedings.
Earlier in the same month, South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb also denied allegations of faking trade volume.