South Korea launches permanent crypto crime unit after 74 indictments
The South Korean prosecutor's office has officially launched a specialized unit for investigating crypto crimes.
The unit, which has been operating since 2023 and was initially conceived as a temporary task force to combat what officials believed to be a short-lived surge in high-profile crypto fraud cases, has now been granted permanent status.
The body is now called the Joint Investigation Unit (JIU) for Virtual Asset Crimes and is overseen by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office.
Since its inception in 2023, the crypto crime division has been overwhelmed with cases. With the rise in cryptocurrency adoption and related crimes in South Korea, the prosecution decided last month to formalize the unit and grant it a certain degree of independence.
JIU will be led by Chief Prosecutor Park Gon Wook, supported by two deputy chief prosecutors. The investigative unit consists of 34 staff members, mostly from the prosecution, along with 11 financial regulators from the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service.
A Unit with experience and high-profile cases
Most of the staff already have significant experience handling cryptocurrency-related fraud cases. Since its establishment, the unit has charged 74 individuals and arrested 25 people.
In recent months, the most high-profile case for JIU has been the investigation of the alleged fraudulent coin Queenbee, which led to a well-known shaman named Jeong Seong Bae, also known as Gon Jin.
Recently, JIU arrested the shaman on suspicion of “handling illegal political funds for politicians and candidates” during the country's local elections in 2018.
As we wrote, South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has imposed a three-month suspension on new crypto deposits and withdrawals for Upbit customers.
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