South Korea’s largest newspaper accused of a $ 3 billion cryptocurrency scam

Victims of the KOK token scam have accused Chosun Ilbo, the largest daily newspaper in the Republic of Korea, and its subsidiaries IT Chosun and Digital Chosun Ilbo of advertising the cryptocurrency scam. The class action lawsuit states that in April 2022, IT Chosun, a subsidiary of Chosun Ilbo, disseminated information about the launch of the KOK token transaction server and the KOK Play passive income platform.

Two months later, Digital Chosun Ilbo, another subsidiary of the newspaper, reported on the award ceremony and the presentation of the KOK Foundation’s top prize for customer satisfaction. The daily itself periodically advertised the KOK Foundation’s promise of returns of up to 20% per month for staking KOK tokens, which lured about 2 million investors to buy tokens and deposit them on the KOK Play platform, according to the plaintiffs.

The KOK token (Keystone of Opportunity and Knowledge) was promoted by the KOK Foundation through a multi-level marketing scheme. At its peak, the price of KOK was $ 7, and now the coin is trading at $ 0.63. All this led to a total loss of about 4 trillion won ($ 2.9 billion) for investors.

Victims of the fraud stated that after the first concerns about the fraudulent activities of the KOK Foundation and the scam regarding the KOK token, company employees reassured concerned investors by referring to articles from the «respected national publication Chosun Ilbo».

According to Aju Business Daily, the South Korean authorities and the victims of the KOK Foundation intend to investigate the collapse of the KOK financial scheme, as well as determine the extent of responsibility of Chosun Ilbo, which provided «extensive coverage of events that gave the KOK token legitimacy.»