Thai SEC Files Criminal Charges Against Bitkub Over Alleged Financial Misconduct

The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub Online, a cryptocurrency exchange, and two of its former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan. The SEC alleges that the exchange and its executives submitted false financial reports between May and October 2021.

The investigation revealed that Bitkub did not disclose a hack in May 2021, in which over $50 million worth of digital assets were stolen. The SEC claims that the executives knowingly made false statements in official documents to conceal the losses from regulators, who believed that client assets were intact and that the company had suffered no financial harm.

Bitkub eventually purchased replacement assets in October 2021, but the SEC maintains that the reports filed during this period were misleading. In a statement on July 23, Bitkub claimed that existing customer holdings were secure and accounted for.