A South Korean court has acquitted a man known in local crypto circles as the “coin king” and nicknamed “Jonbeo Kim” in a first-instance ruling over allegations that he defrauded investors of about 340 billion won through two token projects, Podo Coin and Atube. Prosecutors had asked for a 20-year prison sentence and sought forfeiture of roughly 18.8 billion won in alleged illicit gains.
Seoul court finds fraud charge not proven
The Seoul Southern District Court delivered the ruling on Oct. 15, finding the defendant not guilty. Prosecutors had alleged losses of about 80.9 billion won tied to Podo Coin and about 260 billion won tied to Atube, which some Korean media outlets spelled as Acube.
The court said the defendant had engaged in deceptive conduct regarding the projects’ real condition. Even so, it held that the evidence did not prove investors purchased the tokens because of those misrepresentations. On the separate issue of price support, the court said that conduct did not amount to deception.
Two Enterblock figures convicted over Coinone review materials
Only two people were convicted in the broader case, both from Podo Coin issuer Enterblock. The court found that they had submitted false materials to South Korean exchange Coinone and interfered with listing maintenance reviews. Both received suspended sentences.
That left obstruction of business as the only charge upheld at trial in a case that prosecutors had framed as roughly 340 billion won in fraud.
Court says project deception alone was not enough
In explaining the ruling, the court said that under South Korean legal practice, a so-called scam coin generally refers to a cryptocurrency issued without any real intent to run a business and created only to collect investment money. But the court added that neither statutes nor precedents lay out specific legal elements for a “scam coin,” so labeling a token that way does not by itself establish deception.
After reviewing the defendant’s conduct, the court concluded that the projects were deceptive in substance. It said the platform business was uncertain, the defendant’s willingness or ability to push it forward was clearly insufficient, and yet he promoted the business outlook through the white paper and Telegram groups without accurately disclosing the actual progress. The court also found that he had no intention of using token sale proceeds for the project.
Still, to convict on fraud, the court said prosecutors also had to show that victims bought the tokens because they were deceived. Since the white paper and online notices were directed at an unspecified public, the court said each alleged victim’s decision-making process had to be examined individually. According to Yonhap, the trial panel said that only some victims’ statements had been confirmed.
The court noted that some buyers entered after seeing blogs, YouTube, social media posts, or recommendations from acquaintances, while the path to purchase was unclear in other cases. Even where some victims said they bought after reading the white paper, the court said it could not rule out that they entered for short-term price differences. It considered those investors’ trading frequency and the timing of their purchases.
On that basis, the court held that the causal link between the deceptive conduct and the purchases had not been established beyond a reasonable doubt.
Defendant had been barred from leaving the country
The defendant, surnamed Park, is 45 years old. He became known for posting photos of expensive cars on social media and online forums to show off his wealth, which helped earn him the “coin king” label in the crypto industry. In Korean investing slang, “jonbeo” refers to holding on without selling even while underwater, similar to a hard-line HODL approach.
Prosecutors said about 18,000 people were victims in the Podo Coin case. Park was barred from leaving South Korea in December 2023. He later tried to flee by fishing boat from Jindo in South Jeolla Province and was arrested by the coast guard.
He was detained and indicted in August 2024 over the Podo Coin case, released on bail in January 2025, then detained again in February that year over the Atube case and additionally indicted in March.
Ruling draws attention to legal treatment of scam coins
According to Newsis, the court said there are no concrete statutory or case-law requirements defining a scam coin. The case has been read in South Korean legal circles as showing that issuing a token and getting it listed on an exchange does not automatically amount to deception, and that courts must examine each alleged act and whether it directly caused investors to buy.