Crypto CEO Stabbed Multiple Times During Trial Involving Alleged $826M Embezzlement

In South Korea on Wednesday, the CEO of crypto firm Haru Invest was attacked while attending his trial for alleged fraud totaling more than $800 million. 

Hugo Hyungsoo Lee was stabbed multiple times in the neck by a man described by local media as being in his 50s and was immediately taken to hospital for treatment. 

The injuries he sustained were reportedly none life-threatening. The attacker was reportedly a former customer of Haru Invest.

The trial is a high-profile one, not only because of the sheer amount of money involved but also because it came at a time when South Korea’s laws were being updated to protect consumers.

Lee was one of three executives arrested for fraud in February of this year on charges of embezzlement involving 1 trillion won worth of crypto.

According to the prosecution, the executives were accused of taking deposits from around 16,000 customers between March 2020 and June 2023 and then investing them whole, allegedly falsely advertising that they were “operating them stably using a risk-drive diversified investment technique.”

Haru Invest was advertising annual interest rates of up to 12% for digital asset investments to its customers. After June 2023, however, crypto withdrawals were suspended without notice.

Concerned by the consumer protections available with crypto, the Korean government passed a law in June of 2023 to guarantee the protection of assets held by users.  It was enacted a year later.

The “Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users” also aims to regulate unfair transaction activities, provide greater market oversight, and pass authority to the Financial Services Commission.

The law replaced an earlier ruling from 2021 that the FSC acknowledged had limits where authorities were unable to respond to what it deems as various types of unfair transactions.

The regulator also identified the regulatory lapse as preventing user damage from the crypto market. The hope is the new regulation will more effectively supervise and sanction virtual asset service providers and assist victims with relief measures.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair