An employee at South Korea’s Woori Bank has confessed to embezzling $7.3 million from company funds to invest in cryptocurrency. The unnamed employee, aged in their thirties, voluntarily visited the West Gimhae Police Station on June 10 to admit to the crime, according to reports from News1 and Hanguk Kyungjae.
The bank had detected the missing funds through internal monitoring, but the employee preemptively confessed, revealing that most of the crypto investments had failed, resulting in a loss of approximately $4.35 million. The police are conducting further investigations and collecting related data in conjunction with Woori Bank, with expectations to apply for an arrest warrant.
Woori Bank has announced an intensive audit to understand how the employee was able to siphon off the funds from loan-related accounts. A spokesperson for the bank stated, “We will identify the problems via a thorough investigation and will prevent similar cases from recurring.” As one of South Korea’s major banks, Woori has a significant interest in the crypto sector, with its investment arm holding a stake in Dunmau, the operator of the Upbit crypto exchange. The bank is also exploring security token offerings, pending regulatory approval from Seoul.
