'Etherfather' gets four years in prison over CATFI memecoin rug pull

Crypto influencer Park, known as "Etherfather," was sentenced to four years in prison on unfair trading charges, Digital Asset reported. The 11th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court also ordered forfeiture of about 223 million won ($160,000) after convicting Park of violating the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. An accomplice identified as A received two years and six months in prison and forfeiture of about 45 million won ($32,000), while B was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, along with forfeiture of about 75 million won ($54,000) and confiscation of 24 ETH. The defendants were indicted in May after allegedly spending several million won in early 2025 to issue CATFI, a Solana-based memecoin, on Pump.fun and list it on a decentralized exchange before carrying out a rug pull that generated 400 million won ($287,000) in illicit gains.