V Global Crypto Exchange Complicity: Suspended Sentences and Fines in $1.4 Billion Fraud Case
A South Korean court has handed down suspended sentences to three individuals involved in the V Global crypto exchange fraud, which affected over 50,000 customers and resulted in $1.4 billion in damages. The court also imposed fines on the trio, who were found guilty of violating specific business crimes.
The three unnamed individuals, who held top positions in organizations that used multi-level marketing methods to attract customers to the V Global platform, were sentenced to three years in prison (suspended) and ordered to serve five years of probation. The court also fined them $474,000, $306,000, and $186,000, respectively.
The presiding judge noted that the accused had caused “astronomical damage” by taking advantage of the public’s interest in crypto assets, resulting in significant economic and intellectual pain for the victims. However, the judge also acknowledged that the managers had ensured that some of the victims received payouts and the “profits” that they had been promised.
A Veneer of Authenticity
The V Global Exchange had created a realistic-looking trading platform, complete with real-time price charts for coins such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), as well as trading volume tables. The platform used a “graded membership system” that included advanced multi-level marketing methods, offering members payments in tokens with a global brand if they “hired new members”.
However, the coins offered by the platform were found to be fake, and the exchange itself was never registered on a blockchain protocol. The South Korean authorities have also imprisoned other leaders of the V Global Exchange, with one person currently serving a 14-year prison sentence and another nearing the end of a four-year prison sentence.
The V Global Exchange was launched in mid-2020 but began to unravel in 2021 when disgruntled customers submitted legal complaints and found that they could not withdraw their assets from the exchange. The exchange’s office was located in a building in the heart of Seoul’s busy business district, which houses some of the country’s largest crypto exchanges and blockchain technology startups.
For more information on this case, visit https://cryptonews.com/news/v-global-crypto-exchange-accomplices-handed-suspended-sentences-in-1-4b-fraud-case/
