The court drama behind the takeover of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has been going on for several years, but in an unexpected twist, a Singapore court has handed down a sentence against Kim Byung-gun, who originally accused Bithumb owner Lee Jung- hoon, to have scammed him.
According to the South Korean publication Aju Daily, on August 26, after a three-year process, a Singapore court found Kim guilty of selling BXA coins without the permission of his partner Lee and ordered him to return the profits from the sale of coins to the BTHMB consortium, based in Singapore.
The decision of this civil case could affect the trial that has been held in South Korea. Then, Kim accused Lee of defrauding him in the process of jointly acquiring Bithumb.
According to the story, in October 2018, Lee Jung-hoon discussed the purchase and joint management of the Korean exchange with the chairman of BK Group and the founder of a line of cosmetic surgery clinics, Kim Byung-gun. The partners registered the BTHMB consortium to buy a 50% stake in Bithumb Holdings, Lee would have received USD 100 million in advance as a “contract fee” from Kim, another part of the funds, required to close the acquisition, should have come from the sale of BXA coins issued by BTHMB.
However, the token was never listed and the consortium did not acquire Bithumb by not paying the indicated amount. Kim filed a complaint against Lee in a Korean court in 2020. But earlier, in 2019, Lee accused his former partner of selling BXA tokens on his behalf in a Singapore court.
Meanwhile, Bithumb casually continues to operate: In January 2022, it confirmed the development of a non-fungible token exchange that would help it stay competitive against Korbit and Upbit, two other Korean exchanges. In July, the current owner of Bithumb, the Korean company Vidente, revealed that it had contacted FTX regarding a possible sale of its stake.
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