South Korea's Seoul Southern District Court sentenced Delio CEO Jeong Sang-ho to 15 years in prison over a fraud scheme involving nearly 70 billion won in customer cryptocurrency assets. The court cut the prosecution's original 20-year demand after ruling that part of its evidence, gathered through an unlawful server seizure, could not be used.
15 Years Over a 70 Billion Won Fraud
The Seoul Southern District Court's 11th Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Jang Chan, sentenced Delio CEO Jeong Sang-ho to 15 years in prison on August 13 after finding him guilty of fraud involving nearly 70 billion Korean won ($49.2 million) in customer crypto assets. The court also ordered Sang-ho detained over concerns that he could flee.
Prosecutors had pushed for a much harsher outcome. They initially sought a 20-year prison term, but the court rejected part of their evidence after accepting arguments that the search and seizure of outsourcing company Gabia's server was conducted unlawfully. Prosecutors failed to guarantee Delio's right to participate in the search and did not provide a list of seized items, which rendered the company's database information and related secondary evidence inadmissible.
Court Cites Scale of the Damage
According to the court: "the defendant committed a crime of embezzling a large amount of money from numerous victims", and it added that the offense's nature is very serious given the scale of the damage.
Yet the court also acknowledged that external factors had contributed to the case, and it noted that Sang-ho did not have a prior criminal record involving a punishment greater than a fine. As a result, the ruling represented a significant reduction from the prosecution's original case, which had alleged fraud involving approximately 250 billion won (around $176 million) across roughly 2,800 customers.
After excluding evidence tied to the larger allegation, the court instead convicted Sang-ho under the prosecution's alternative indictment, covering approximately 70 billion won and more than 1,078 victims.
Source: CryptoPotato
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