South Korean Crypto CEO Attacked in Court During Fraud Trial

During a court hearing in Seoul, the CEO of a cryptocurrency company in South Korea suffered numerous stab wounds to the neck.

Weeks before the courtroom stabbing, a Chinese gang looted a luxury villa in Thailand of almost $2 million worth of cryptocurrency at gunpoint.

Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, the CEO of South Korean cryptocurrency earnings company Haru Invest, was the victim.

During the Haru Invest trial, in which three of the company’s executives were charged with stealing $826 million in bitcoin from almost 16,000 consumers, Lee was physically assaulted in the courtroom.

The attacker, a guy in his 40s who was one of Haru Invest’s victims, abruptly leaped up from the guest seat and tried to stab Lee in the neck with a little knife, according to the local media outlet Digital Asset. Lee was taken to the hospital right away.

Haru Invest abruptly stopped withdrawals on June 13, 2023. The depository and management business Delio, which had some money kept at Haru Invest, stopped taking withdrawals the next day.

What is known about the fraud case of Haru Invest

Three of Haru Invest’s top executives are accused by South Korean prosecutors of stealing digital assets valued at about $826 million from the company’s 16,000 subscribers.

Lee was looked into for stopping deposits and withdrawals in June 2024 as part of the fraud case.

In February 2024, South Korean prosecutors took custody of three officials of the cryptocurrency yield platform, including the CEO.

The prosecution claims that from March 2020 to June 2023, executives at Haru Invest stole most of the coins consumers had put by reinvesting the proceeds. According to the allegations, the ex-couples misrepresented Haru as running a reliable company with “risk-free diversified investment techniques.”

Then, in July, Lee was freed from custody before the trial.

Crypto crimes: From online to offline assaults

Although the main concern for cryptocurrency owners used to be cyberattacks and hacks, there are now more physical attacks involving digital assets.

Four Chinese nationals broke into a gated home in Pathum Thani, Thailand, on August 4. The victim was forced to transfer $2 million in cryptocurrencies at gunpoint by the gang.

Four individuals abducted a foreigner in Kyiv, Ukraine, earlier in July. The victim was known to possess Bitcoin BTC$59,951. Before strangling the victim, the attackers made him move his three Bitcoins to their wallets.

This follows the events on June 17 in London, where three armed men broke into a house with machetes and demanded that the owner transfer $1,000 worth of Ether, which is equivalent to nearly $2.5 million. Fortunately, the victim was not hurt physically.