• A former senior Seoul Metropolitan Police Company officer obtained a six-year jail sentence and a 100 million received effective for accepting about 120 million received.
  • The funds, roughly 50 million received in money and 70 million received as “leisure charges”, have been accepted between December 2023 and March 2024 whereas the officer held direct accountability for investigating crypto fraud.
  • The Uijeongbu District Courtroom’s Goyang department dominated the conduct “drastically undermines the equity and appropriateness of the job and social belief”.

A former senior officer with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company has been sentenced to 6 years in jail for accepting bribes from people beneath investigation for cryptocurrency fraud.

The Goyang department of the Uijeongbu District Courtroom convicted the officer, recognized as “Particular person A” beneath South Korean court docket reporting guidelines, of aggravated bribery, solicitation of bribes and fraud. The court docket additionally imposed a 100 million received effective, equal to about US$69,000 (AU$105,570).

In keeping with a report from native outlet Chosun Ilbo, prosecutors stated the officer obtained roughly 120 million received, or about US$82,000 (AU$125K) in funds between December 2023 and March 2024 whereas assigned to cryptocurrency fraud investigations on the Seoul Metropolitan Police Company.

About 50 million received of the funds have been delivered instantly in money, whereas the remaining 70 million received was offered by so-called “leisure charges,” overlaying hospitality and companies reasonably than direct transfers.

A legislation agency workplace supervisor recognized as “Particular person B” organized introductions between the officer and the bribery sources. Particular person B was sentenced to 2 and a half years in jail and fined 50 million received, or about US$34,500 (AU$52K).

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Courtroom Says Conduct Undermined Investigations

The court docket stated the officer abused his authority by associating with people who have been energetic targets of prison investigations.

In its ruling, the bench said the defendant handled his place “as energy” and accepted cash and leisure whereas interacting with suspects. Judges stated the conduct severely broken public belief and undermined the integrity of legislation enforcement.

Prosecutors stated the funds successfully neutralised investigations involving these people in the course of the four-month interval wherein the bribes have been obtained.

The case provides to a collection of cryptocurrency-related enforcement failures in South Korea. In a single earlier incident, Seoul Metropolitan Police misplaced 22 Bitcoins value about US$1.4 million (AU$2.14 million) resulting from improper proof storage. 

Separate bribery investigations in late 2025 additionally led to indictments of a number of police officers linked to a US$186 million (AU$284.58 million) cryptocurrency money-laundering operation. Authorized commentators have since referred to as for stronger oversight of officers dealing with digital asset investigations.

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