The nearly 10-year-old cryptocurrency space has reached one of the more ignominious milestones to date.
Several months after the SEC filed the first civil fraud action against an ICO founder who was believed to have stolen money from investors, US prosecutors are sending a message to the community by filing the first case of a criminal fraud prosecution in blockchain history, according to federal prosecutors in Chicago.
Prosecutors are expected to outline the charge that "from September through November 2017, Kim transferred more than $2 million of the trading firm's Bitcoin and Litecoin to personal accounts to cover his own trading losses, which had been incurred while trading cryptocurrency futures on foreign exchanges."
But unlike the previous civil actions, the criminal case involves an employee at a blockchain startup who stole from his employer to fund a severe gambling problem, according to ABC 7.
According to a local Chicago television station, a 24-year-old trader named Joseph Kim considered himself “invincible” according to federal investigators. The trader was charged after allegedly siphoning $2 million in bitcoin and litecoin away from his Chicago-based employer.
Kim, who's biography identifies him as a 2016 graduate of University of Chicago, is charged with fraud against Consolidated Trading LLC. Kim illegally transferred the firm's cryptocurrency to his own personal accounts, according to federal investigators, to cover trading losses.
The Korean-American then lied about the transfers and tried to cover up the illegal trades by repaying some of the funds, prosecutors claim.
According to a federal complaint, Kim referred to himself as "DEGEN", short for "degenerative gambler."
In an email to his bosses last November, Kim allegedly admitted to the scheme. "It was not my intention to steal for myself" he is quoted as writing. "Until the end I was perversely trying to fix what I had already done."
"I can't believe I did not stop myself when I had the money to give back, and I will live with that for the rest of my life,” he said, according to prosecutors.
Kim was hired as a trader in July 2016. In an email last November to the firm's top executives authorities say Kim apologized and said he was "sorry to betray you all like this."
Yet it was Consolidated's management team that discovered the misappropriation.
Kim made his initial court appearance on Friday at 10:30 am before Magistrate Judge Daniel G. Martin at the Dirksen Federal Building.
Comments
no way!
sarc.
Kim better send his resume to Jon Corzine.
In reply to no way! sarc. by Kaiser Sousa
no comment
In reply to Kim better send his resume… by Shitonya Serfs
DWG (Defrauding While Gentile) is a serious offense
In reply to no comment by Bone-Machine
People don't give Millennials enough credit.
In reply to DWG (Defrauding While… by E.F. Mutton
part of his legal strategy should be to refer to the incidences as rehypothecations.
In reply to Kim better send his resume… by Shitonya Serfs
Only Management gets to re-Hypothecate.
In reply to part of his legal strategy… by ZH Snob
Only Management gets to re-Hypothecate.
In reply to part of his legal strategy… by ZH Snob
Koreans and Chinese are notorious gamblers.
In reply to no way! sarc. by Kaiser Sousa
Now we know why fonestar has been in hiding! (ID revealed! ~ He's the rong rost WinkeRVoss tliplet).
Davcoin anyone?
Bitcoin is,,,,,for Fags.
But cryptocurrencies are only pretend money! What he did was no different from charging rent for landing on the electric company square when playing a game of Monopoly. Only difference is that his game was all computer games played with computers instead of boards, play money, houses, hotels and dice.
"'I can't believe I did not stop myself when I had the money to give back, and I will live with that for the rest of my life,' he said, according to prosecutors."
So no remorse for stealing it in the first place, only for not paying it back once he had the means to do so?
What about Peter Strzok? I tried to reach him but his secretary says "in a meeting with lawyer Lisa Page."
"When the grunting and snorting sounds from his office stops," she said she will let him know I called.
They are getting paid. They are fucking. Sounds like prostitution.
In reply to What about Peter Strzok? I… by Never One Roach
Chump change compared to what the DOD can't account for.
Sadly we will see many more stories like this. ☹️
He's giving Asian porn a bad name.
Fraud? What about the Federal Reserve Bank? Do they have a patent on that?
It's legal when the Fed does it. It doesn't need a patent on fraud. It has a monopoly.
In reply to Fraud? What about the… by Pumpkin
This has really zero to do with crypto.
All about degenerative embezzlers .
"biography identifies him as a 2016 graduate of University of Chicago"
What else do we need to know. The birth place of so much that is anal, banal, and bad.
"Fraud" coming for the US Government........HA! .... Good one government!
lolz ahaahahhaha
How many times have we heard this excuse> "I can't believe I did not stop myself when I had the money to give back, and I will live with that for the rest of my life.”
Have fun playing put-put golf with Bubba in Club Fed, snowflake.
Jump fucker!
At least he won't have to pay taxes on his profits.
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Hey Kim change your last name to Kim Clinton then you'll get off scott free since no reasonable prosecutor will file charges.
"Kim" is the Korean equivalent of "Clinton"
In reply to Hey Kim change your last… by aliens is here
I am so sorry (that I got caught).
Lol. Asians love that crypto. And. Asians love Asia.