South Korea’s crypto crimes unit has reportedly been ‘overloaded’ with cases within a year of being launched.
The unit, which operates as part of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, is tasked with handling high level crypto-related crimes.
The first case that the unit handled was an investigation into Terraform Labs and its top executives, including CEO and founder Do Kwon, who has since been arrested.
Other cases that the unit is currently handling include investigations into WeMade and Wemix coin, investigations into accusations of embezzlement with Kakao, and the Coin Gate political scandal, which involves suspected insider trading among politicians.
However, legal experts in Korea have raised concerns that the unit is ‘suffering from an overload of work and understaffing problems as crypto-related crime cases increase’.
Legal community officials claim that the unit requires more support, with one former prosecutor saying that ‘the unit is the only public authority that investigates crypto assets, but it has no support and it is understaffed’.
The latest case to be transferred to the unit involves a metaverse firm named ClubRare, which has been accused of making false promises to its investors.
ClubRare’s members are currently suing ClubRare’s CEO, claiming a combined total of $7.4 million in damages.