South Korean appeals court cuts crypto executive’s sentence to 6.5 years in fraud case

A South Korean crypto company executive who allegedly defrauded investors of more than 3 billion won ($2.2 million) while promoting an NFT project with a former national soccer team player had a prison sentence reduced on appeal, KBS reported. At a sentencing hearing today, the Incheon branch of the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court ruling that had sentenced the executive, a man in his 20s identified only as A, to seven years in prison on fraud charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and instead handed down a sentence of six years and six months. Prosecutors charged A with deceiving more than 30 investors and causing losses of over 3 billion won between March 2021 and July 2022 while running a coin business. He had recruited investors by saying they could buy the coin cheaply before it was listed on a South Korean exchange and profit after the listing, but no domestic listing took place. During the fundraising process, A also used former national soccer team player B as a promotional model.