An investigation by the South Korean police found that 33 individuals were involved in illegal cryptocurrency transactions overseas worth $1.48million (1.59 trillion won). This was over the past few months. According to The Korea Times 14 of the suspects were referred by the prosecutors. Four others are still under investigation. The authorities also imposed fines to 15 people in connection with the case.
Authorities noted that the investigation was a cross-government investigation which took place between April and September. It looked into suspicions of money laundering and fraud using virtual currencies. The report also noted that more than 812.2 billion won of foreign currency was traded after it had been traded on unnamed cryptocurrency exchanges.
“About 785.1 trillion won was spent on people who falsified their overseas remittance records to purchase digital currencies overseas. The media outlet reported that 95.4 billion won was spent on cash withdrawals abroad using Korean-issued credit cards in order to purchase cryptocurrencies. The authorities fined one of the suspects in the investigation 12 billion won. The man made 10 billion won trading Bitcoin (BTC), using 355 billion won from falsified invoices that he sent to an overseas paper company. Concerns were raised when the individual made 563 transactions over a three year period and then used the fiat to purchase digital assets on foreign crypto exchanges.
