Delio CEO Jeong Sang-ho was sentenced to 15 years in prison after the Seoul Southern District Court convicted him of embezzlement involving roughly 70 billion won, or about $49.2 million, in customer crypto assets and of using false documents to register Delio as a virtual asset service provider. Prosecutors had sought 20 years, but the court acquitted Jeong on the case's main allegation that he defrauded about 2,800 people of roughly 250 billion won, ruling that evidence obtained through a search and seizure of a server operator had been collected illegally and could not be used. The court said the surviving crimes were still extremely serious, citing the scale of damage and the lack of forgiveness from victims who suffered major economic losses, and ordered Jeong detained on flight-risk grounds. Delio, which marketed itself as a digital asset bank offering high returns on crypto deposits, suspended withdrawals in June 2023 and was declared bankrupt in November 2024. The case comes as South Korea expands its crypto enforcement framework under the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users and as traditional finance firms deepen investments in local exchanges including Korbit and Coinone.