The CEO of a South Korean crypto firm was stabbed in the neck multiple times during court proceedings in Seoul.
The victim was Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, the CEO of Haru Invest, a South Korean crypto-earning company.
Lee was assaulted in the courtroom during the Haru Invest trial, which accused three of the company’s executives of stealing $826 million in cryptocurrency from around 16,000 users.
According to the local media outlet Digital Asset, the attacker, a man in his 40s who was among the victims of Haru Invest, suddenly sprang up from the guest seat and attempted to stab Lee in the neck with a small knife. Lee was immediately rushed to the hospital.
Haru Invest suddenly suspended withdrawals on June 13, 2023. The following day, Delio, a depository and management company with some funds held at Haru Invest, also halted withdrawals.
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The Haru Invest fraud case: What we know
South Korean prosecutors charged three of Haru Invest’s top executives with stealing approximately $826 million worth of digital assets from their 16,000 users.
As part of the fraud case, Lee was investigated for suspending deposits and withdrawals in June 2024.
South Korean prosecutors arrested three executives of the crypto yield platform in February 2024, including the CEO.
According to the prosecution, Haru Invest executives misappropriated most of the coins deposited by customers by reinvesting the assets from March 2020 to June 2023. The exes allegedly falsely advertised Haru as operating a stable business using “risk-free diversified investment techniques.”
Lee was then released from arrest in July, ahead of the trial.
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Crypto crimes: From cyber to physical attacks
While cyber-attacks and hacks used to be the biggest issue for cryptocurrency holders, we’re seeing increasingly more physical attacks related to digital assets.
On Aug. 4, a gang of four Chinese nationals broke into a gated estate in Pathum Thani, Thailand, and forced the victim to transfer $2 million worth of cryptocurrency at gunpoint.
Earlier in July, four men kidnapped a foreigner in Kyiv, Ukraine, who was known to hold Bitcoin (BTC). The attackers forced the victim to transfer his 3 Bitcoin to their wallets before strangling him.
This comes after the June 17 incident in London, when three armed men used machetes to invade a home, forcing the owner to transfer 1,000 Ether (ETH) worth over $2.5 million. Luckily, the victim suffered no physical harm.
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