Executives of a $1.5 billion South Korean cryptocurrency exchange fraud are imprisoned.

The latest court action brings the total number of V Global executives behind bars to seven, with the CEO already serving a 22-year sentence.

Six executives involved in the $1.5 billion (2 trillion won) South Korean crypto exchange fraud V Global were sentenced to up to eight years in prison; however, three were not detained in order to fight certain charges in court.

V Global operated between July 2020 and April 2021, luring approximately 50,000 investors with the promise of 300% returns and substantial referral fees.

According to a translation of December 26 reports from South Korean media outlets such as Economist.co.kr, two high-ranking executives named Mr. Yang and Mr. Oh were sentenced to eight and three years in prison, respectively, for defrauding investors.

Four unnamed executives received sentences of three years in prison and five years of probation.

However, three of the six have not yet been detained because they have asserted their innocence and the right to defend themselves in court.

The judge from the 12th Criminal Division of the Suwon District Court stated, "The defendants only trusted the VGlobal management team, avoided responsibility, and once the investigation began, they destroyed evidence and interfered with the investigation."

According to reports, the judge granted the defendants some leniency, as the actual amount of fraud and number of affected investors was less than initially estimated last year.

According to Kyeongin's February report, this was due to later evidence indicating that approximately 10,000 investors had received returns from V Global through multilevel marketing incentives such as customer recruitment bonuses. Many reportedly reinvested their profits back into the platform prior to its closure.

In June of last year, it was alleged that the company distributed $1,000 customer referral bonuses to existing investors via the influx of capital from new users, in a Ponzi-like scheme.

The latest court action brings the total number of V Global executives behind bars to seven, as Mr. Lee, the company's CEO, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in February.