Korean National Health Insurance Corporation executive sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling 4.6 billion Korean won and squandering it on cryptocurrency futures investments

According to SBS, Choi, the head of the financial management team of the National Health Insurance Corporation of South Korea, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for embezzling 4.6 billion Korean won, and the Supreme Court upheld the original verdict. Cui embezzled 4.6 billion Korean won by manipulating internal systems 18 times between April and September 2022, and then fled to the Philippines. He was arrested in January 2024 at a high-end resort in Manila. According to the investigation, apart from the 720 million Korean won recovered by the public group through civil litigation, Choi used most of the remaining 3.9 billion Korean won for cryptocurrency futures investment and incurred losses. The court determined that the nature of the crime was heinous, but did not support the prosecution's accusation that Choi transferred funds through cryptocurrency, which constituted money laundering, nor did it accept the 3.9 billion Korean won recovery request. In addition, colleague Zhao, who was suspected of assisting Choi in fleeing and transferring 16.7 million Korean won, was sentenced to 4 months in prison and suspended for 1 year in the second trial, and is currently undergoing appeal proceedings.