Bithumb CEO booked in alleged bribery over lawmaker’s son

Seoul police have booked Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won on suspicion of bribery after investigators say he hired the second son of National Assembly member Kim Byung-ki following a November 2024 meeting in Mapo, Seoul. Police executed search warrants at Bithumb’s headquarters on February 24 and again on June 8 as part of the probe.

According to investigators, Kim, an independent lawmaker who served on the Political Affairs Committee that oversees financial regulation, asked Lee during a restaurant meeting in November 2024 that his son be employed at the exchange. The son joined Bithumb in January 2025 and worked there for about six months.

Investigators allege the hiring was offered as an improper benefit in return for favors. They say Kim later used his committee role to subject a rival crypto exchange, Dunamu, to repeated oversight scrutiny during committee proceedings.

Kim faces a separate set of allegations in a wider corruption probe. Authorities are treating roughly 13 suspicions against him, including nomination bribery, and have summoned him to provide testimony multiple times.

Bithumb is also under regulatory pressure. In March, financial regulators fined the exchange $24.5 million and ordered a six-month partial suspension of some operations for deficiencies in anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer controls. A court issued a temporary stay of that suspension in late April after Bithumb challenged the order.

Earlier this year an internal systems error at Bithumb displayed about $43 billion in Bitcoin credited to users’ accounts. The incident affected thousands of accounts and prompted lawmakers to question why repeated regulatory reviews of the exchange since 2022 had not detected the underlying issue.

Investigators have linked the bribery probe to a broader pattern of corruption cases involving South Korea’s cryptocurrency sector. In a separate case this year, a police officer who had worked on crypto fraud investigations was sentenced to six years in prison for accepting bribes.

Police are continuing to gather evidence in the investigation and have booked Lee on suspicion of offering an improper benefit through the hiring. Prosecutors and investigators have not announced formal charges against Kim or Lee as of the latest actions.