According to Cointelegraph, Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, the CEO of South Korean crypto-earning company Haru Invest, was stabbed multiple times in the neck during court proceedings in Seoul. The incident occurred during the trial of three Haru Invest executives accused of stealing $826 million in cryptocurrency from approximately 16,000 users. The attacker, a man in his 40s and one of the victims of Haru Invest, suddenly attacked Lee with a small knife from the guest seat. Lee was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment.
Haru Invest had suspended withdrawals on June 13, 2023, followed by Delio, a depository and management company with funds held at Haru Invest, halting withdrawals the next day. South Korean prosecutors charged three top executives of Haru Invest with misappropriating digital assets from their users. The executives allegedly reinvested the assets from March 2020 to June 2023, falsely advertising Haru as a stable business using “risk-free diversified investment techniques.” Lee was released from arrest in July ahead of the trial.
The incident highlights the increasing physical risks associated with cryptocurrency crimes. On August 4, a gang of four Chinese nationals in Pathum Thani, Thailand, forced a victim to transfer $2 million worth of cryptocurrency at gunpoint. In July, four men in Kyiv, Ukraine, kidnapped a foreigner known to hold Bitcoin, forcing him to transfer 3 Bitcoin before strangling him. In London, on June 17, three armed men used machetes to invade a home, forcing the owner to transfer 1,000 Ether worth over $2.5 million. The victim in this case suffered no physical harm.
