Bithumb CEO booked as bribery suspect in probe over lawmaker’s alleged job requests
South Korean police have officially named Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won as a suspect in a bribery investigation centered on allegations that the crypto exchange hired staff at the request of independent lawmaker Kim Byung-kee.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Crime Investigation Unit is probing whether Lee arranged employment at Bithumb for Kim’s second son after a meeting between the two, Yonhap reported on June 11. Investigators say they obtained a statement from a former aide alleging the lawmaker and Lee met at a restaurant in Mapo, Seoul, in November 2024, and that Kim raised the hiring request during that encounter.
Police are also examining whether Kim — who served on the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee that oversees the Financial Services Commission — later took parliamentary actions that could have benefited Bithumb. Investigators are reportedly reviewing whether some of Kim’s activities, including focus on so-called “monopoly issues” involving Dunamu (operator of rival exchange Upbit), were connected to his son’s alleged hiring.
The probe extends to a second hiring allegation: authorities are checking whether Kim asked Bithumb to employ a former aide from his office, who reportedly joined the exchange in September 2024. Lee was named in a second search warrant executed on June 8; that operation covered Bithumb’s Gangnam-gu headquarters and other sites. Earlier, in February, police listed Kim as a bribery suspect while treating Bithumb as a witness.
Investigators have seized materials and plan to review them before summoning relevant individuals, including the aide and others involved in the hiring processes, to question them about what they knew and how the hires were handled.
The case lands amid a turbulent year for Bithumb. South Korean regulators fined the exchange 36.8 billion won (about $24.5 million) for anti-money-laundering lapses, and an internal error in February briefly credited users with massive Bitcoin balances. The exchange has since delayed IPO plans until after 2028 while working to strengthen accounting and internal controls.
The bribery probe remains active. Police have not released final findings, and the allegations against Lee, Kim and others have not been proven in court.
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