FSS Chief Lee Chan-jin Vows to Check Vitos Ties to Financial Firms Over KOK Coin Scam Allegations
Summary
- Financial Supervisory Service chief Lee Chan-jin said he would check cooperation between Vitos, a blockchain company alleged to be tied to the KOK Coin scandal, and domestic financial institutions.
- The KOK Coin case is a large-scale multilevel virtual-asset fraud that has recruited investors since 2019 by promising principal protection and high investment returns, with total losses reaching 2.5759 trillion won.
- With Vitos having signed memorandums of understanding with Hana Financial TI, iM Bank, Hecto, Danal, Eugene Investment & Securities and Jeonbuk Bank, attention is on Lee’s pledge to review the matter after calls for financial authorities to verify the facts.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Lee Chan-jin, head of South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service, said he would check cooperation between blockchain company Vitos and domestic financial institutions after allegations surfaced linking the firm to the KOK Coin scandal.
At a National Assembly audit by the Political Affairs Committee in Seoul on October 19, Lee told Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-duk he would "check and report back" after Min called for a review of allegations that people tied to the KOK Coin case were working at Vitos and asked regulators to examine the company’s partnerships with financial institutions.
The KOK Coin case is a large-scale multilevel virtual-asset fraud that has recruited investors since 2019 by promising principal protection and high returns. Prosecutors have identified 570,707 victims in South Korea and overseas, with total losses of 2.5759 trillion won ($1.86 billion). Police have referred 66 people to prosecutors in connection with the case.
Min said during the audit that people involved in the KOK Coin case were allegedly employed at Vitos, a blockchain company in Seoul’s Gangnam district. He referred to individuals identified only by their surnames, including Jeong and Park, and questioned why people tied to the case were continuing corporate activities while victims had yet to be compensated.
He also said Vitos had signed memorandums of understanding with Hana Financial TI, iM Bank, Hecto, Danal, Eugene Investment & Securities and Jeonbuk Bank, and argued that those ties to the financial sector should be reviewed. It has not been established, however, that the agreements themselves were linked to the KOK Coin fraud case.
Min said victims were still awaiting court rulings without compensation and urged financial authorities to verify the facts. Lee’s pledge has drawn attention to whether regulators will examine both the alleged employment of case-related individuals at Vitos and the process behind its partnerships with financial institutions.
