Law enforcement authorities in South Korea conducted searches at the headquarters of cryptocurrency exchanges UpBit and Bithumb. The prosecutor’s office stressed that the searches took place as part of an investigation into the case against local politician Kim Nam-kook.
He invested in digital assets using insider information. In addition, he lobbied for a deferral of taxation of income derived from the sale of cryptocurrencies.
Law enforcers suspect that Cook may have gotten the information he needed to trade from the exchanges where the searches took place. He was in time to sell and buy tokens. His total income may have exceeded $660,000.