&lt;figure class="image"&gt;&lt;img src="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/adobestock-365096047.jpeg" alt="A gavel and block on a wooden desk against the background of a South Korean flag." srcset="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_1500_1000.jpeg 1500w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_1200_800.jpeg 1200w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_900_600.jpeg 900w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_720_480.jpeg 720w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_600_400.jpeg 600w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327129/responsive-images/adobestock-365096047___media_library_original_300_200.jpeg 300w" width="1500" class="content-img"&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;Source: gesrey/Adobe&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/tags/south-korea"&gt;South Korean&lt;/a&gt; prosecutors have asked a &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/tags/legal"&gt;court&lt;/a&gt; to arrest an ex-pro golfer and a top executive at &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/tags/bithumb"&gt;Bithumb&lt;/a&gt;, one of the country&amp;rsquo;s leading &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/tags/crypto-exchangehttps://cryptonews.com/tags/crypto-exchange"&gt;crypto exchanges&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0103_202308291916094495" rel="nofollow"&gt;YTN&lt;/a&gt; reported that the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors&amp;rsquo; Office&amp;rsquo;s Financial Investigation Department wants to try golfer Ahn Seong-hyun and &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/news/bithumb-exec-suspected-of-taking-bribe-exchange-for-token-listing.htm"&gt;Lee Sang-jun&lt;/a&gt; (54), the CEO of Bithumb Holdings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prosecutors suspect that the duo may have listed tokens on the exchange in exchange for bribes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ahn, 42, turned pro in 2005 and went on to coach South Korea&amp;rsquo;s national golf team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He also shot to celebrity status in 2017, when he married FinK.L&amp;rsquo;s Sung Yu-ri, a &amp;ldquo;first-generation&amp;rdquo; K-pop star-turned-A-listing actress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="image"&gt;&lt;img src="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327133/ahn-11.jpg" alt="The golfer Ahn Seong-hyun and the singer-actress Sung Yu-ri at their wedding ceremony in 2017." srcset="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327133/responsive-images/ahn-11___media_library_original_540_364.jpg 540w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327133/responsive-images/ahn-11___media_library_original_300_202.jpg 300w" width="540" class="content-img"&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ahn and Sung at their wedding ceremony in 2017. &lt;/i&gt;(Source: Slent)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;But earlier this year, prosecutors lodged an initial bid to arrest Ahn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ahn is thought to be a close friend of the &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/news/s-korean-entertainment-and-crypto-worlds-rocked-by-bithumb-boss-park-min-young-revelations.htm"&gt;businessman Kang Jong-hyun&lt;/a&gt;, the alleged majority &amp;ldquo;owner&amp;rdquo; of Bithumb.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In April, &lt;a href="https://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2023040701039921314001" rel="nofollow"&gt;Munhwa Ilbo&lt;/a&gt; reported, prosecutors claimed Ahn had abused his friendship with Kang to convince the latter to list an unnamed domestic coin on the exchange.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Investigators think Ahn accepted a bribe from the coin&amp;rsquo;s issuer, and then persuaded Kang to push his Bithumb colleagues to list the token.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kang is also thought to have invested heavily in a cosmetics brand owned by Sung.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lee, meanwhile, is accused of receiving a series of illegal payments from Kang to help facilitate the token&amp;rsquo;s listing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Per &lt;a href="https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25188333" rel="nofollow"&gt;Joongang Ilbo&lt;/a&gt;, Kang has told investigators he paid Lee a total of $3.8 million between 2021 and 2022.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;figure class="image"&gt;&lt;img src="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/bithumb-3008.jpg" alt="A graph showing trading volumes on the Bithumb crypto exchange over the past 12 months." srcset="https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_1834_337.jpg 1834w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_1200_221.jpg 1200w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_900_165.jpg 900w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_720_132.jpg 720w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_600_110.jpg 600w, https://cimg.co/news/123761/327131/responsive-images/bithumb-3008___media_library_original_300_55.jpg 300w" width="1834" class="content-img"&gt;&lt;figcaption&gt;&lt;i&gt;Trading volumes on the Bithumb crypto exchange over the past 12 months.&lt;/i&gt; (Source: CoinGecko)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prosecutors have been trying to secure an arrest warrant for Ahn since April, but have frequently been frustrated in their efforts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kang, meanwhile, is currently being prosecuted for allegedly manipulating stock and cryptoasset prices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He also faces charges of embezzlement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ahn and Lee will now face a warrant review hearing on the afternoon of September 1 at a branch of the Seoul Southern District Court.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bithumb&amp;rsquo;s ownership structure has &lt;a href="https://cryptonews.com/news/s-korean-prosecutors-arrest-exec-suspected-of-destroying-evidence-at-bithumb-affiliate.htm"&gt;become the subject of public scrutiny&lt;/a&gt; since an expos&amp;eacute; about Kang was published by the South Korean media outlet Dispatch last year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prosecutors have also investigated bribes-for-coin listing allegations at Bithumb rivals, including Coinone.&lt;/p&gt;

South Korean Prosecutors Seek Arrest Warrants for Golf Star & Bithumb Exec

Cryptonews.com

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