South Korean Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrants for Golf Star & | Crypto LVL

South Korean Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrants for Golf Star & Bithumb Exec

South Korean prosecutors have asked a court to arrest an ex-pro golfer and a top executive at Bithumb, one of the country’s leading crypto exchanges. YTN reported that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Financial Investigation Department wants to try golfer Ahn Seong-hyun and Lee Sang-jun (54), the CEO of Bithumb Holdings.

Prosecutors suspect that the duo may have listed tokens on the exchange in exchange for bribes. Ahn, 42, turned pro in 2005 and went on to coach South Korea’s national golf team. He also shot to celebrity status in 2017, when he married FinK.L’s Sung Yu-ri, a “first-generation” K-pop star-turned-A-listing actress.

But earlier this year, prosecutors lodged an initial bid to arrest Ahn. Ahn is thought to be a close friend of the businessman Kang Jong-hyun, the alleged majority “owner” of Bithumb.

In April, Munhwa Ilbo reported, prosecutors claimed Ahn had abused his friendship with Kang to convince the latter to list an unnamed domestic coin on the exchange. Investigators think Ahn accepted a bribe from the coin’s issuer, and then persuaded Kang to push his Bithumb colleagues to list the token.