The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Bitsonic, Jinwook Shin, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing 10 billion South Korean won ($7.5 million) worth of customer deposits, a local publication has reported.
Meanwhile, the company's CTO has been sentenced to one year in prison for obstructing a business via computer.
Bitsonic's fraud was uncovered after users reported irregularities in transactions and realized that their investments had disappeared.
According to the court, between January 2019 and May 2021, Shin manipulated the volume of transactions on the exchange by using Bitsonic's funds to purchase his own token, artificially inflating its price.
Bitsonic ceased operations in August 2021 due to internal and external issues.