Head of illegal cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea sentenced to five years for money laundering

MarsBitNews · 2026-01-20T10:14:53+00:00

Daegu District Court in South Korea sentenced the head of an illegal cryptocurrency exchange to five years in prison for laundering $1 million for a scam gang. The gang lured victims via Telegram to quickly transfer funds and rapidly exchange them for USDT, resulting in losses that are difficult to recover. The law calls for strengthened regulation of stablecoins to prevent similar crimes.

MarsBitNews

2026-01-20 10:14:53

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Breaking News from Mars Finance: According to DLNews, the Daegu District Court in South Korea sentenced a 41-year-old founder of an illegal cryptocurrency exchange to five years in prison. The individual used USDT to launder $1 million for an overseas voice scam gang. A 35-year-old employee of the exchange was simultaneously sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. The criminal gang contacted victims via Telegram, disguising themselves as law enforcement officers and family members to trick victims into transferring funds. They then quickly exchanged the funds into USDT, completing the entire process in less than an hour, preventing banks from freezing the accounts in time. Judge Lee Young-chul described this as a “malicious crime” and pointed out that the defendant took no measures to compensate the victims. South Korean legislator Kim Sung-joon called for strengthened regulation of stablecoins to address new types of foreign exchange crimes.

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