South Korean crypto company CEO stabbed several times by victims for fraud

Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, CEO of South Korean virtual asset custodian Haru Invest, was stabbed several times in the neck in a Seoul court, but fortunately his life was not in danger. The cause of the attack started with a cryptocurrency fraud case.

Haru Invest is a South Korean virtual asset custody service company that was active from March 2020 to June 2023 and had about 16,000 users before. The company bills itself as a risk-free, high-yield investment platform, but in fact it pursues a high-risk trading strategy.

On June 13, 2023, Haru Invest suddenly suspended customer withdrawal services without prior notice. Delio, another cryptocurrency platform whose funds are managed by Haru Invest, also suspended withdrawals the next day.

The sudden suspension of withdrawals caused a huge uproar among investors and attracted the attention of South Korean prosecutors. South Korean prosecutors later charged three executives of the company, claiming that they stole user deposits worth about $826 million.

At the time of the incident, Lee was on trial for mismanaging $826 million worth of cryptocurrencies at Haru Invest.

It was revealed that the attacker, 51 years old, was identified as one of Haru Invest's victims. At the time of the incident, the attacker rushed towards Lee from the courtroom and stabbed Lee's neck several times with a short knife about 5 cm long hidden in his clothes. After the attack, Leel was immediately taken to the hospital from the courtroom and was reportedly not in danger of life.

After the withdrawal freeze in June last year, South Korean prosecutors began investigating Haru Invest and arrested Lee and two other executives in February 2024.

Local authorities in South Korea revealed details of the investigation, saying that the company's executives mismanaged most of the funds deposited in the platform.

In addition, reports show that Haru investment executives transferred customer deposits between March 2020 and June 2023. The prosecution alleged that the company caused huge losses to investors by falsely promising to portray the investment platform as a stable business.

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