South Korean Law enforcement authorities have taken 33 individuals into custody for conducting illegal cryptocurrency transactions of $1.5 billion. In addition, these individuals carried out some illegal cross-border transactions using digital assets.
Presently, the authorities investigate them and have fined fifteen while the 14 are yet to be prosecuted. However, four of these individuals are yet to face prosecution but under investigation as of now.
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Individuals Held Accountable For Processing Illegal Cryptocurrency Payments
According to the daily South Korean newspaper, the authorities arrested 33 suspects for getting involved in illegal activities through cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, the individuals were involved in committing several fraudulent acts and money laundering operations. The perpetrators conducted offshore transactions with cryptocurrencies amounting to a tune of $1.5billion that amounts to 1.69 trillion Won.
In segmenting the total amount of transactions in their factions, $707.5 million came from illegal foreign currency exchange. These payments were made to third-party players to transfer profits from cryptocurrency trading.
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According to the prosecution, the suspects falsified overseas remittance records with a total of $683.9 million. They made these falsifications when they purchase virtual assets abroad.
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The last faction is $83.1 million, which the individuals supposedly spent on cash withdrawals they made from abroad with a credit card. According to the authorities, the card is from an Asian country, and the individuals used it to purchase cryptocurrencies from abroad.
We also came to know that one individual amongst the suspects owns a foreign exchange company in the country.
According to the authorities, the man helped his client overseas to bypass South Korean law. As a result, he transferred $261.4 million through 17,000 cryptocurrency transactions in his trading venue. The report also disclosed that the man got a profit of $4.4million from the transactions.
However, the authorities have got him with three others who worked with him in the illegal acts. The four individuals will face prosecution for the violation of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act.
South Korean Authorities Fine Suspects With A Significant Amount
According to the report, the authorities fined a total of $10.5 million on one of the individuals who used false invoices & bills to engage Bitcoin trading overseas. In addition, the reports revealed that he made $8.7 million from the illegal deals.
A student who is part of the fraud and money laundering will pay a fine of $1.4 million. The student made almost $1.7 million from a deal worth $35 million. According to the report, he transferred the money into many accounts overseas.
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In addition, he used false remittance records and deceived the authorities with lies that the money was for study costs abroad.
Still, on the fines, a worker who is part of the illegal deals got 1.3 million as a fine after making profits from trading in Bitcoin. Besides some people working with him, this worker used $27 million to withdraw from abroad with a South Korean card.
In response to the news, Officials from the Seoul district warned residents of South Korea to avoid such transactions. According to the officials, such illegal transfer in cryptocurrency will attract fines or prosecution.
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