Coinup’s Pyramid CEO receives 16 years in prison for fraud

During the fraudulent campaign from August 2018 to February 2019, the organizers of the Coinup pyramid managed to attract 450 billion won ($ 386 million) from thousands of investors.

The sentence was carried out in accordance with the enforcement procedure for special types of economic crimes that were committed under aggravating circumstances. Other participants in the scheme received 11, 7, 9, and 6 years in prison, respectively.

The organizers promised investors a multiple increase in their capital, and when buying “package” products, they got the opportunity to receive a guaranteed income of 200% for 4-10 weeks. According to the investigation, the organizers of the fraudulent scheme thus deceived their investors and provoked them to invest in a financial pyramid.

“They used different methods to create a trusting environment. For example, scammers published a magazine in which their CEO was captured with incumbent South Korean President Moon Jain. In fact, the photograph was fabricated and did not correspond to reality, the documents of the court session said. “The deception of investors, the number of victims and the scale of the losses indicate a serious crime.”

Many of the participants in the scheme pleaded guilty. The court took into account the fact that some of them did not have voting rights in the company and did not make decisions. Law enforcers have been monitoring Coinup since the beginning of this year, when fraud information became public.