Jang Hyeon-guk, former Wemade CEO and now CEO of Nexus, who was brought to trial on suspicion of manipulating the circulation of the cryptocurrency "Wemix," was acquitted on appeal.
The 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Baek Kang-jin) on the 27th held an appellate sentencing hearing for Jang, who was charged with violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, and for Wemade Co., and delivered a not-guilty verdict.
The court said, "An objective correlation between Wemix and Wemade's stock price is not recognized," adding, "The defendant also had no intent or awareness to artificially boost Wemade's stock price."
Regarding the correlation between Wemade's stock price and Wemix asserted by prosecutors, the court explained, "Correlation is not causation," and "The two prices appear to have moved together because Wemade's global game ecosystem has combined the two values."
It continued, "It is hard to see that Wemade's stock price moved unilaterally based solely on the price of Wemix," finding that the first trial's not-guilty ruling was justified.
Jang was indicted in Aug. last year on charges of raising Wemade's stock price by falsely announcing in early 2022, when serving as Wemade CEO, that the cashing out of Wemix coins would be halted, inducing investors who were misled by this to buy Wemix coins. Wemix is a cryptocurrency designed to allow cashing out of assets obtained in games.
Earlier, the first trial court in Jul. ruled not guilty, saying it was difficult to see that Jang's remarks about halting cash-outs were made with the purpose of preventing a stock price decline.
After leaving Wemade, Jang took office early this year as CEO of the domestic game company Action Square and changed the company name to Nexus.