South Korean Court Apprehends Crypto Assets of “Nth Room” Ringleader
Brian Njuguna Jun 04, 2020 01:30
A South Korean court has frozen 15 cryptocurrency wallets belonging to Cho Ju-bin, the orchestrator of the “Nth Rooms” scandal. It came to the limelight following a national outcry following the sexual exploitation of underage girls by Cho Ju-bin and his team who was named and paraded through the Korean streets to face the public in March.
A South Korean court has frozen 15 cryptocurrency wallets belonging to Cho Ju-bin, the orchestrator of the “Nth Rooms” scandal. The twisted Telegram chat rooms dubbed the Nth Rooms came to the light following a national outcry at the deviant sexual exploitation of underage girls and children by Cho Ju-bin and his team in exchange for bitcoin and ether payments.
South Korean citizens have demanded justice and consider the events a national shame. Nth Room administrator, Cho Ju-bin was named and paraded through the Korean streets to face the public in March where he was met with disgust, taunted, and had to be shielded from the furious crowd.
Prosecutors’ plea granted
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Settlement Division 30 decided to apprehend the crypto wallets following requests by prosecutors that they held crime proceeds gained from child pornography.
These wallets were obtained from Cho Ju-bin last month as he has been under heavy scrutiny about his role in circulating explicit underage girls content in the Telegram chat rooms dubbed Nth Rooms. The court noted that bag preservation and confiscation was a crucial procedure of temporarily deterring the disposition of criminal proceeds.
Reportedly, the “Nth Rooms” incident had been happening for years as underage school-going girls were sexually exploited after being coerced to do inhumane acts. More than 10,000 people used these chatrooms after paying between $200 and $1,200.
Last month, Kim Reece, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) criminal analyst, was honored for her role in exposing this scandal.
Watertight case
Investigators are continuing coming up with concrete evidence in the “Nth Rooms” scandal needed to pin down the culprits because it is linked to cybersex trafficking, blackmail, and sexually exploitative videos and images.
The court also mentioned the unearthing of 130 million won, approximately $106,000 at Cho Ju-bin’s home in April and this is also being used as evidence in the case.
The Korean police have rolled up their sleeves as they are hunting down the clientele involved in the incident. They are being aided by crypto exchanges, such as Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinone in the probe.
Image via ShutterstockImage source: Shutterstock
