Gangster who skipped bail jailed for squandering friend’s Bitcoin stash in casino

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A South Korean gangster will spend the next eight years behind bars after frittering away his acquaintance’s $332,000 Bitcoin stash in online casinos.

The Busan District Court also convicted the unnamed gangster, a member of a notorious crime syndicate, on charges of fraud, money laundering, and embezzlement that left almost 150 fraud victims out of pocket.

“The number of victims and the scale of the damage are substantial,” Presiding Judge Kim Hyun-soon said in sentencing, per South Korean newspaper Kangwon Domin Ilbo. “We took into consideration the fact that the victims have petitioned the court for severe punishment.”

The judgement comes as crypto-related fraud cases continue to rise in South Korea. Earlier this month, a scammer who was declared dead resurfaced before repaying the majority of his victims.

‘Enforcer’ jailed

Prosecutors told the court the accused worked as “an enforcer” for the Busan-based organised crime group Seven Star Mob.

The mob is thought to be the largest of its kind in South Korea.

The court heard the accused’s acquaintance contacted the former in 2019 with a request to sell the Bitcoin for cash.

The acquaintance told the accused they would pay a commission of 0.5%. The gangster agreed, and sold the Bitcoin for fiat currency. But instead of handing this money over, he deposited it on an illegal betting site, where he burned through the money making unsuccessful bets.

The acquaintance filed a compliant with police, who launched an embezzlement case against the gangster.

The gangster, however, fled soon after his trail began.

While on the run in February 2021, the gangster accepted an offer, made to him by investment fraudsters via Telegram, to help launder money overseas.

Prosecutors explained the investment fraud organisation duped victims out of a total of $6.4 million over a period of approximately one year and two months.

Earlier this year, police accused a man of poisoning his business partner’s coffee with toxic pesticide after a crypto investment went sour.

Crypto market movers

Bitcoin is trading at $66,400 per coin on Saturday, rising by less than 1% over the past 24 hours.
Ethereum is trading at $1,991, also dropping less than 1% over the same period.