Crypto Debt Drove Korean Scholar to Armed Theft

A South Korean man has been handed a suspended jail time period of just about three years after he was discovered responsible of armed theft “to clear a crypto debt.”

In line with the South Korean media outlet WowTV, the unnamed prison was 22 years outdated and had amassed money owed of over $37,000 on account of “failed cryptoasset investments.”

The person, described as a school scholar, was sentenced at a department of the Gwangju District Court docket, the place he was discovered responsible of theft, threats of violence, and theft.

The court docket heard that the person entered a comfort retailer within the Dong-gu area of Gwangju on June 11 this 12 months, “armed with a weapon.”

The court docket additionally heard that the person then proceeded to threaten a retailer worker with the weapon.

The person then went on to steal over $425 in money.

And he stole quite a lot of objects from the shop earlier than leaving, together with Google Play present playing cards.

He then went to quite a lot of different shops within the metropolis, the place he stole comparable objects.

The presiding choose Koh Sang-young sentenced the person to 2 years and 6 months in jail, in addition to three years of probation, and 200 hours of neighborhood service.

However Choose Koh determined to droop the jail sentence after ruling that the person had acted out of “desperation” – and that he had even contemplated taking his personal life.

The person was additionally described as a “first-time offender,” News1 reported.

Crypto and ‘Excessive Decisions’ Drove S Korean Man to Armed Theft

Choose Koh mentioned that the person had “dedicated the case with excessive selections in thoughts” as a result of “pile” of debt he had amassed.

And the court docket added that the person’s household had “pledged” to “actively” assist with the person’s rehabilitation – an element that led the choose to droop the jail time period.

However the choose added that the crime was “not gentle in nature” and that the shop clerk “had felt concern for [their] life.”

South Korea was rocked by quite a lot of obvious crypto-related suicides in 2021, with traders seemingly taking their lives after shedding monumental sums of cash on the crypto market.

And the nation was shocked final 12 months by the case of a married couple and their 10-year-old little one who have been discovered useless after driving their automobile into the ocean.

The couple had amassed monumental crypto investment-related money owed.

Investigators discovered the couple had made quite a few Bitcoin (BTC) purchases shortly earlier than their our bodies have been recovered off the coast of Wando, South Jeolla Province, within the Southwest of South Korea.