The departed CEO of an enterprise that is comprised of cryptocurrency exchanges Korbit and Bitstamp had $6.7 million stolen from his digital wallets by a South Korean hacker.
A branch of the District Court in Eastern Seoul, according to Yonhap, sentenced an unidentified 39-year-old man to six years in prison after holding him responsible for hacking the wallets of NXC founder Kim Jeong-ju — who passed away at the age of 54 earlier this year. The hacker also had to pay $89,000 in fines.
The South Korean gaming juggernaut Nexon, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was a part of Kim’s economic empire. Kim, a fervent supporter of cryptocurrencies, coordinated the purchase of Korbit. The platform is still one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea. He also acquired Bitstamp, the first cryptocurrency trading platform in Europe.
Along with his commercial endeavours, Kim was a keen private cryptocurrency investor who had amassed a portfolio of coins that comprised holdings in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other cryptocurrencies. He kept his cryptocurrencies in wallets that were housed on the Korbit platform, the court was told.
The court was also informed that the hacker duplicated Kim’s SIM cards after his death. The hacker then gained access to Kim’s Korbit wallets using the cloned SIM and was able to steal BTC, ETH, and other coins from the accounts “more than 27 occasions.”
The hacker was also mandated by the court to return the entire sum of $6.7 million to “three applicants,” who are alleged to be family members of Kim.
According to a prosecution officer who was quoted, “the damages” from the robberies of Kim’s wallets “have not yet been fully recovered.”
The hacker had “gangland” collaborators, who gave the hacker advice on SIM cloning methods.
Kim was the third-richest individual in South Korea at the time of his passing, with an estimated net worth of over $10.7 billion.
