According to reports from Korea, the CEO of CJ Games, Kwon Young-shik, was arrested last week on 2nd May. CJ Games is the gaming branch of CJ Entertainment & Media (E&M), which in turn is one of the 4 major departments of the CJ group. What was he arrested for?
Well, he actually sold in-game currency for real cash, although the prosecutors stated that happened back in 2008, when Kwon was a director in CJ Internet (previous name for E&M before restructure) overseeing game operations. Along with him, another CJ employee involved was arrested as well, who apparently is just a normal non-executive staff. The illegal scheme came to light when the 3rd party trader was caught just recently, although it was not reported why he was arrested in the first place.
The alleged total haul of Kwon’s activity of selling in-game currency for cash back then is reportedly near the USD 800,000 mark. Following Kwon’s arrest, the authorities raided CJ Games’ Netmarble (the MMO portal’s name) offices for evidence the very next day on 3rd May. Netmarble has said that the company will give its full support and aid for the ongoing investigation.
