South Korea's first violation case of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" verdict announced, with the main offender sentenced to 3 years for manipulating the coin price

Mars Finance reports that according to the Korean News Agency, the first violation case of the “Virtual Asset User Protection Act” in South Korea has been sentenced. The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced the CEO of a certain crypto trading company to 3 years in prison for manipulating coin prices, imposed a fine of 500 million Korean Won (approximately $385,000), and ordered the confiscation of about 846 million Korean Won (approximately $650,000). However, considering Lee’s active cooperation during the trial and the fact that he had already been detained, the court decided not to revoke his bail and did not detain him. The court found that between July and October 2024, he used automated trading programs to artificially increase trading volume and repeatedly placed false buy orders to manipulate prices, involving improper gains of about 7.1 billion Korean Won (approximately $5.46 million). This case is the first to be transferred through the “fast track” of financial regulation by prosecutors since the law took effect in July 2024.