CHICAGO — Joseph Kim, 24, of Chicago, is staring down a federal wire fraud charge after allegedly siphoning off $2 million in Bitcoin and Litecoin from his employer, Consolidated Trading LLC, over a two-month crime spree in late 2017.
The assistant trader exploited his access to the firm’s newly formed cryptocurrency division, transferring more than $2 million worth of digital assets to personal accounts between September and November 2017, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed today. The theft marks the first criminal prosecution in Chicago tied directly to fraud within the cryptocurrency trading industry.
Kim allegedly used the stolen cryptocurrency to cover personal trading losses incurred on foreign futures exchanges—losses he never reported. To hide the theft, he fed company executives a string of lies, falsely claiming the firm’s holdings were secure and accurately accounted for, while privately moving the digital currency into accounts under his control.
Management at Consolidated Trading didn’t catch the fraud until late November, when discrepancies in their crypto inventory triggered an internal review. The firm turned over evidence to federal authorities, launching an investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Chicago office.
Kim is charged with one count of wire fraud, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. He’s scheduled for his initial court appearance on Feb. 16, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel G. Martin in Courtroom 1743 of the Dirksen Federal Building.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sunil Harjani and Sheri Mecklenburg. A complaint is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent, and the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
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Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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