As the pace of the growth and change occurring in the virtual currency industry is so rapid, and as the relevant legal regulations and support for virtual assets have not kept pace with such changes, prosecutors are considering establishing a joint virtual asset investigation unit to investigate crimes involving virtual assets, following a number of high-profile cases involving them. The police have also reportedly begun building a system to respond to criminal investigations involving cryptocurrency.

Barun Law’s Virtual Asset Criminal Response Team is led by Attorney Cho Jae-Bin, who formerly served as the Investigation Planning Officer for Capital Market Investigation and a member of the Financial Development Deliberations Committee and Legal Advisor of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and a member of the Listings and Disclosures Committee of the Korea Exchange. He also served as deputy chief prosecutor of the Busan and Incheon District Prosecutors’ Offices, senior prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Special Unit 4), deputy senior prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Special Unit 3), and prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (Special Unit 2). Attorney Cho is well versed in the areas of finance and corruption, and he and his team, consisting of former prosecutors and judges with extensive experience in investigations and trials, as well as veteran lawyers and experts with experience in advising and representing in virtual assets-related matters, provide clients with prompt and systematic response measures to achieve the best possible results satisfactory to the clients.

Professionals  Attorney Cho, Jae Bin

Attorney Han, Suh Hee

Attorney Kim, Chu

Response to Virtual Assets-Related Criminal Cases
- A criminal case involving a virtual assets exchange
- An investment fraud case concerning cryptocurrency and NFT development
- A fraud case concerning an initial coin offering (ICO) of a cryptocurrency
- A Ponzi scheme case involving speculative investing in cryptocurrency and in real assets, such as real estate
- An investment fraud case involving business plans utilizing cryptocurrency
- A fraud case involving manipulation of the balance and market price of virtual assets
- A hacking case involving virtual assets
- A voice phishing case involving virtual assets
- Cases involving embezzlement, breach of duty, extortion concerning virtual assets
- A case involving the concealment of the proceeds of criminal activities using virtual assets

- A case in which a warrant for the arrest and detention of a programmer who developed and managed the Chai Pay payment system was dismissed, and the programmer stood trial without being arrested in connection with the Terra Luna crash

Recent Cases
- Reseller fraud case concerning an initial coin offering (ICO) of a cryptocurrency
- A case concerning the occupational breach of duty by the representative of a cryptocurrency exchange
- A fraud case concerning investing in cryptocurrency mining
- A case involving the extortion of cryptocurrency by an employee of a cryptocurrency exchange
- Cases involving fraud and embezzlement concerning fees for cryptocurrency listing
- A case in which a warrant for the arrest and detention of a programmer who developed and managed the Chai Pay payment system was dismissed, and the programmer stood trial without being arrested in connection with the Terra Luna crash
- Provided legal advice to Wemade, the issuer of the cryptocurrency, Wemix
- Responded to a case where charges were filed for breach of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud) in connection with development of cryptocurrency
- Responded to cases involving charges filed for fraud, etc. in connection with issuance of cryptocurrency
- Responded to a case involving extortion of coins by utilizing digital wallets
- Responded to a case on fraud involving bitcoin arbitrage