South Korea's National Health Insurance Corporation executive sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling 4.6 billion won and squandering it on crypto futures investments

PANews reported on July 15 that according to SBS, Choi, the head of the financial management team of the National Health Insurance Corporation of Korea, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling 4.6 billion won, and the Supreme Court upheld the original sentence. Choi embezzled 4.6 billion won of public funds 18 times by manipulating the internal system between April and September 2022, and then fled to the Philippines and was arrested at a luxury resort in Manila in January 2024. The investigation showed that in addition to the 720 million won recovered by the Corporation through civil litigation, Choi used most of the remaining 3.9 billion won for cryptocurrency futures investment and lost all of it.

The court found that the crime was serious, but did not support the prosecution's allegation that Choi's transfer of funds through cryptocurrency constituted money laundering, nor did it accept the request for the recovery of 3.9 billion won. In addition, Cho, a colleague who was suspected of assisting Choi in absconding and transferring 16.7 million won, was sentenced to four months in prison and one year of probation in the second trial, and is still under appeal.