- Seoul prosecutors allege a crypto investment dispute escalated into a poisoning attempt involving a banned insecticide.
- Authorities claim mounting financial losses and fund management tensions preceded the alleged café attack.
- The victim survived after intensive care treatment, with the first court hearing set for 10 March.
South Korean prosecutors have charged a 39-year-old man with attempted murder after he allegedly poisoned his business partner’s coffee during a dispute over cryptocurrency investments.
The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office indicted the man on charges of attempted murder and breaching the Pesticide Control Act, according to local media reports. Authorities allege that on 23 November, he handed his partner a drink containing methomyl, a banned toxic insecticide, at a café near Seokchon Lake in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
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Bitcoin Fund Tensions Escalate
Prosecutors said the pair had worked together since 2022, overseeing funds through Bitcoin investment programmes. The relationship reportedly deteriorated after the accused personally invested and lost 1.17 billion won (AU$1.1 million), and failed to recover the funds.
Investigators said tensions intensified after the partner assumed control of the company’s remaining funds in September. Prosecutors allege the accused purchased the poison before the Bitcoin-related losses and later used it in the café meeting.
After consuming the coffee, the victim collapsed and was taken to hospital, where he received intensive care and regained consciousness three days later. “I was about to get married at the time, and my wife was in the early stages of pregnancy”, he told Asia Business Daily. “The family was almost completely destroyed,” he said, adding that he has recovered but still requires medical treatment.
The first hearing is scheduled for 10 March at the Seoul Eastern District Court.
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