A senior South Korean police officer has been sentenced to six years in prison and fined 100 million won for accepting approximately $90,000 (120 million won) in bribes from suspects linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud and illegal gambling. The Uijeongbu District Court’s Goyang branch convicted the former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency supervisor, in his 40s, on charges of aggravated bribery, solicitation of bribes, and fraud.
The court found that between December 2023 and March 2024, the officer accepted about $38,000 (50 million won) in cash and roughly $53,000 (70 million won) in entertainment expenses. Prosecutors detailed that he met with suspects involved in a "coin consignment sales" fraud case through a law-firm office manager, implying he could influence the investigation. The officer was also convicted of falsely claiming overtime about 80 times from July 2023 to June 2024, collecting an additional 7.88 million won.
In its ruling, the court stated the defendant "greatly damaged the fairness and integrity of public office and social trust," adding that he "thought that his authority as an executive-level police civil servant was power, and he enjoyed entertainment or collected money and goods without any guilt while mingling with the people who were under investigation."
This case underscores growing corruption risks within South Korean law enforcement as they handle an increasing number of crypto-linked fraud investigations. The news follows recent high-profile blunders where authorities lost millions in cryptocurrency. In one incident, Seoul's Gangnam district police lost 22 Bitcoin (worth about $1.4 million) due to improper storage procedures. In another, the National Tax Service accidentally published seed phrases to confiscated wallets, leading to the theft of funds reportedly worth up to $5 million.
The sentencing comes as South Korean authorities ramp up investigations into illegal online gambling, unregistered cryptocurrency sales, and organized crypto investment scams targeting retail investors.