South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Komid is in the news as two of its senior executives have been sentenced to prison for faking trade volumes, according to Korean crypto media outlet Blockinpress (Jan 18).

One of the two is Komid’s own CEO Choi Hyunsuk, who received a three-year sentence. The other executive, understood to be surnamed Park, was handed a two-year term for fraud, embezzlement, and misconduct over wash trading.

By using digital bots and fake financial accounts, the duo had faked 5 million transactions that generated $45 million for the exchange.

The judge, in passing the sentences, was quoted as saying, “Choi has committed fraud for a countless number of victims for a long period of time…. Furthermore [sic], he holds the financial authorities responsible for failing to keep track of the industry better.”

Just last month, TheCryptoSight noted that South Korea-based crypto exchange Bithumb had denied similar accusations after ratings and analytics service CER accused it of wash trading to fake 94 percent of its trade volume in 2018.