Seoul court acquits influencer Park in $253m crypto fraud case

Key points

• The Seoul Southern District Court acquitted Park, known as "Coin King Jonber Kim", of fraud and manipulation over Podo coin and ATube.
• Prosecutors had sought 20 years in prison and the seizure of more than $14m from Park's estate.
• The court said victims cited blogs, YouTube, communities and acquaintances rather than white papers when buying.

A Seoul court has acquitted a Korean influencer known as "Jonber Kim" in a $253m crypto fraud case, finding that prosecutors did not prove his statements drove investors' losses. The Seoul Southern District Court ruled on 15 October in one of South Korea's largest crypto cases, Bitcoin.com News reports.

Park, 45, was accused of masterminding the issuance of two tokens, Podo coin and ATube, making false promises to buyers and manipulating their prices. Prosecutors said the schemes let him take $253m from investors, and they sought a 20-year prison term plus the seizure of over $14m from his estate.

Evidence fell short

The court accepted that false claims in white paper documents were deceptive, but said it could not establish that those documents alone prompted purchases. It noted that some confirmed victims had bought on the strength of blogs, YouTube, communities or acquaintances' introductions rather than the defendants' materials.

South Korea has stepped up its response to crypto fraud. In August the same court sentenced Jeong Sang-ho, former chief executive of the digital asset bank Delio, to 15 years for embezzling $49.2m in customer assets. The Financial Supervisory Service has also deployed AI tools to detect price manipulation on the country's largest exchanges.

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