Seoul police have booked Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won as a bribery suspect over alleged job favors tied to lawmaker Kim Byung-ki's son. According to reports from Yonhap and WuBlockchain, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Public Crime Investigation Unit is examining whether Lee helped arrange employment at Bithumb after a request from Kim. The case centers on claims that Kim asked Bithumb to hire his second son, with investigators also checking whether the lawmaker later carried out parliamentary activity that may have benefited the exchange. Being 'booked' registers Lee as a formal suspect under investigation, though it does not assume guilt and does not constitute a charge.
Investigators reportedly obtained a statement from a former aide claiming that Kim met Lee at a restaurant in Mapo, Seoul, in November 2024 and raised the employment request during the gathering. As reported by Yonhap and Nocut News, Kim served on the National Assembly's Financial Affairs Committee, which oversees South Korea's Financial Services Commission. Police are reviewing whether his work on crypto exchange issues had any link to the alleged hiring request, with investigators suspecting Kim focused on 'monopoly issues' involving Dunamu, the operator of Upbit and a major Bithumb rival. The son was hired in early 2025 and worked at the exchange for roughly six months. Police have also learned that former aide A, who worked for the lawmaker, has been serving as an unofficial adviser since September last year, and are currently investigating whether there was any quid pro quo arrangement. The Yonhap report specifically alleges that Kim carried out legislative activities against Dunamu, including raising concerns about Upbit's market monopoly.
The exchange has rejected the allegations, with Bithumb maintaining that its recruitment followed standard procedures and that there were no irregularities in how the hire was made. This denial represents the company's consistent position throughout both office searches. Police named Lee as a suspect in a second search warrant executed on June 8, covering Bithumb's headquarters in Gangnam-gu and other locations. As reported by WuBlockchain, investigators are expected to review seized materials before questioning people linked to the hires, with police potentially summoning the aide and others to ask about the hiring process and what they knew about the alleged requests. No formal charges have been filed against Lee or Kim to date. Police are continuing the investigation, conducting an additional search and seizure of Bithumb's headquarters this month following the February search.
The probe also covers a separate hiring allegation involving Kim's office aide. According to WuBlockchain, police are checking whether Kim asked Bithumb to employ an aide who worked in his office, with that aide reportedly joining Bithumb in September last year. During an earlier search in February, police had listed Kim as a bribery suspect over alleged preferential treatment involving his son, with Bithumb treated as a witness at that stage. The wider case against Kim has run about nine months, including roughly seven summonses of the lawmaker himself, with Kim facing 13 separate suspicions in the broader probe, bribery among them. Police are also investigating whether the lawmaker asked retaliatory questions in the National Policy Committee against rival Dunamu (Upbit) after the younger son was hired by Bithumb.
The booking arrives against a soft market backdrop, with Bitcoin trading near $62,871, up 2.4% on the day, and the CoinMarketCap Fear and Greed Index reading 15, or 'extreme fear'. As WuBlockchain reports, the case is a governance story rather than a price driver, but adds to pressures on Korean platforms when sentiment is already thin. Bithumb sits behind only Upbit in Korean trading volume, with the won-denominated market it serves being one of the most active retail crypto arenas in the world. The case represents a significant escalation because Bithumb is Korea's second-largest exchange, and a criminal probe of its leadership feeds directly into the country's broader tightening of crypto oversight.
