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Victims of the alleged V Global cryptocurrency exchange scam have demanded “maximum prison sentences” for the leaders of the trading platform ahead of their lawsuits.
Fourteen executives, including the CEO of V Global, are set to stand trial at the Suwon District Court branch next month, although the investor group says 40 more officials are due to face fraud charges.
If the leaders are found guilty, they face a minimum prison sentence of three years. But investors say only long jail sentences for everyone involved will keep the alleged organizers of the scam from relapsing. Senior officials have been linked to another alleged MLM scam involving a now defunct cryptocurrency exchange.
The group was quoted as saying:
“The platform is not making any effort to return the victims’ ill-gotten investment money. They should be sentenced by the court to the maximum penalty. The judge should issue the appropriate sentence.”
The alleged victims added that “the prosecutor’s office and the police should arrest all high-ranking officials at the existing levels of the pyramid so that there will be no similar crimes in the future.”
Seoul police have reportedly said the exchange could be a central hub in a fraudulent wheel that has attracted nearly USD 2 billion in investment. The platform’s website has been down since the arrest, and police raided the exchange’s offices last summer.
Police launched an investigation into the exchange early last year after several disgruntled investors said they were unable to withdraw their coins from the exchange. Police believe that up to 52,000 clients could have been attracted by promises of phenomenal growth.
However, to the unknowing person, the platform looked just like any other cryptocurrency trading platform, with real-time price tracking information for major cryptoassets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and major altcoins.
In May 2021, officers froze the company’s assets in the amount of approximately $ 214 million.
V Global has stated that its unique airdrop service pays out its own V Cash tokens when new tokens appear on the platform. But the police say the platform was in fact illegally using multilevel marketing (MLM) techniques.
Strict South Korean regulations require all MLM projects to register with regulatory authorities and follow the provisions of the Sales Act.
According to Yonhap, the group of alleged victims explained that investors had to deposit a minimum of USD 5,000 in fiat or crypto to become “members” of the platform.
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