SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) — Prosecutors have illegally transferred funds worth about 4 trillion won (US$3.2 billion) overseas to buy cryptocurrencies abroad and sell them at a premium in South Korea. Officials said they had charged 20 people with repatriation. Wednesday.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, in cooperation with the Seoul branch of Customs, charged 11 with detention and the remaining nine without detention.
It is alleged that between January 2021 and August last year, 4.3 trillion won was raised through 256 South Korean bank accounts and illegally transferred to Hong Kong and other overseas countries under the guise of foreign trade payments. I’m here.
The funds were then used to purchase cryptocurrency assets outside of South Korea, and the purchased cryptocurrencies were transferred to domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and sold at a so-called kimchi premium, with the proceeds going to the indicted people and funds. distributed among providers.
Kimchi premium refers to the price difference of cryptocurrencies between Korean exchanges and foreign exchanges where cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin, are highly priced.
The indicted suspects are suspected of paying a bribe of 20 million won to a broker to facilitate the opening of bank accounts and the exchange of currencies.
According to the prosecution, if the premium rate for kimchi is up to 5%, the profit from the transaction could reach 210 billion won, of which 13.1 billion won is in the process of being confiscated.
This undated photo shows the trading price of Bitcoin. (union)
pbr@yna.co.kr
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