South Korean Prosecutors Set to Formalize Crypto Crime Unit

#cryptonews

South Korean prosecutors will formalize the launch of a special unit devoted to solving crypto crime and punishing coin price manipulators and fraudsters.

Per Digital Today, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office-run Joint Investigation Unit (JIU) for Virtual Asset Crimes will officially launch “in February at the earliest or in March at the latest.”

This will see the latter become an organization in its own right. The move will require legal changes. Quoting unnamed government officials, the media outlet wrote that the Ministry of Justice is ready to enshrine the new body’s existence in law.

The unit began life as a temporary task force in July 2023. However, the new move will see the prosecution service effectively “promote” the JIU.

Crypto Crime: South Korean Prosecutors’ Not-So-New Unit

The unit, as its name suggests, comprises more than just prosecutors. Its members also belong to regulatory bodies like the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Within a year of the JIU’s launch in 2023, it had indicted 41 people, arrested 18 people, and seized, confiscated, or frozen 141 billion won ($97.5 million) worth of Bitcoin (BTC), altcoins, fiat, and other assets.

And the ministry’s move could also “adjust the number of prosecutors” assigned to the unit. This, it reportedly says, will allow the prosecution to “respond to virtual asset crime efficiently and systematically.”

And with “virtual asset-related crimes” now “increasing,” Seoul has decided to act on the prosecution’s own request to transform the JIU into a “department” of the prosecution service. The Ministry of Justice now wants to “collect opinions” on its “revised enforcement ordinance” proposal.

The government feels that the JIU has demonstrated a “clear” ability to get results, the media outlet wrote.

Crypto Fraud on the Rise – Prosecutors