A high South Korean prosecution official says courts should ship swifter justice to crypto offenders – with circumstances at the moment taking “too lengthy” to course of.
The feedback got here from Lee Jeong-ryeol, the top of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s joint crypto investigation unit, in an interview with the newspaper Hanguk Kyungjae.
The unit is the nation’s solely investigative group devoted to crypto-related crimes.
Swifter Justice Will Assist Struggle Crypto Crime – Prosecutor
Lee claimed that “regulation rollouts” and the “punishment” of crypto-related crimes “have been sluggish.” He mentioned:
“We should restore belief within the digital property market, which has was a lawless zone. To do that, we should velocity up not solely the tempo of investigations, but in addition trials and sentencing.”
📑 Native media studies that South Korea is taking decisive measures to fight the surge in cryptocurrency-related crimes and fraud circumstances by shifting to determine its momentary digital asset investigative unit as a everlasting entity.This transfer co…https://t.co/yd7EObgib1
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) April 29, 2024
Lee insisted that whereas crypto-related crimes current courts with novel features, at their core, they’re basically no totally different from typical monetary fraud.
He mentioned that neither investigative companies nor courts “ought to discover it troublesome to cope with digital asset crimes utilizing new IT.”
Lee justified this by stating that the “essence of stealing property by lies doesn’t change – whatever the know-how concerned.” He mentioned:
“An built-in response throughout the federal government is urgently wanted. This type of method will assist handle the issue of fast-evolving monetary and high-tech crimes.”
The prosecutor added:
“We are going to solely be capable to assist victims get better their funds if investigations may be carried out quickly.”
Unit Tackling ‘First-of-their-kind’ Crimes
Lee is the unit’s first director. He was appointed when the staff launched in July 2023.
The unit is South Korea’s first and solely devoted cryptoasset investigation group.
It includes round 30 professionals from seven government-funded companies, together with the Nationwide Tax Service, the Prosecution Service, the Monetary Supervisory Service, the Monetary Companies Fee-run Monetary Intelligence Unit, and the Korea Customs Service.
The unit additionally includes members of the Korea Deposit Insurance coverage Company, the nation’s financial institution deposit safety company, in addition to the Korea Change.
Since its launch, the company seems to have been inundated with circumstances. These embrace a high-profile art-themed altcoin case involving police and prosecution corruption.
Lee additionally famous that his unit has been coping with circumstances similar to “unlawful over-the-counter (OTC) commerce networks” value “round $478 million.”
New Prosecution Unit Faces Challenges
The unit has additionally investigated allegations surrounding Haru Make investments and the crypto lending platform Delio, after the latter suspended withdrawals in October 2023.
Lee additionally spoke in regards to the difficult nature of his unit’s work, with investigators typically coming into terra incognita with their probes. He mentioned:
“The circumstances the joint unit investigates are principally first-of-their-kind circumstances with no current authorized precedent.”
Lee additionally commented on a current wave of studies centering on alleged South Korean “scam coins,” saying:
“Rip-off cash aren’t any totally different from common scams. At their coronary heart, their operators are out to generate profits by deceiving individuals.”
Final month, police arrested a person for allegedly stealing virtually $362,000 value of money in an armed theft on an OTC crypto purchaser.