Delio CEO Gets 15-Year Sentence for Crypto Deposit Fraud
A South Korean court has handed down a significant sentence to Delio's CEO Jeong Sang-ho for virtual-asset deposit fraud. The 11th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court sentenced Jeong to 15 years in prison, despite prosecutors seeking 20 years.
The case surrounds Delio, which advertised guaranteed annual returns of around 10% and branded itself a 'crypto bank.' However, the court found that the marketing was dishonest about the product's safety. Delio assured depositors it earned money through arbitrage and coin-collateralized lending while hiding early business deficits and operating losses.
Jeong was also convicted of submitting falsified loan records worth 2 billion won to siphon roughly 1 billion won from an investment fund, and inflating the firm's coin holdings by 47.6 billion won in an audit report used for virtual-asset business registration.