[Apha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Paul Lee] According to the industry on the 14th, the civic group Economic Democracy 21 filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office the previous day against Kakao founder Kim Bum-soo and executives of blockchain platform Klaytn's affiliates on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.

The group, headed by accountant Kim Kyung-yul, claimed that Kakao raised funds worth KRW 150 billion to KRW 300 billion during a private sale (private pre-sale) before listing on the virtual asset KLAY exchange, but there was no status of the acquisition of cashable assets. They also raised suspicions that Kakao insiders cashed in after sharing KLAYs for various purposes, including investment, compensation and service costs. They claim that the unfair profits earned from this amount to hundreds of billions of won.

The Klaytn project, which issues and operates KLAY, is currently under the supervision of the Klaytn Foundation. Kakao Group operates the Klaytn project through Crust Universe, an affiliate and Singaporean corporation in 2019 In March this year, it was entrusted to the Klaytn Foundation, an independent non-profit foundation that was separated from the Crust Universe.

In a related development, the Klaytn Foundation countered that it was a "groundless unilateral claim." Kakao did not make any announcement.

 

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