South Korea charges five in Solana CATFI DEX rug pull

Seoul prosecutors charged five people in connection with a rug pull involving CATFI, a meme token issued on the Solana blockchain. Authorities allege the operators generated roughly 400 million won in illicit profits and caused about 900 million won in combined losses for investors.

Investigators identified a suspect with the surname Park as the central operator. Park managed a social media account called “Eth Father” and promoted CATFI while presenting himself as an unaffiliated third party. Park and associates launched CATFI on Pump.fun, a Solana token launchpad, using about 10 million won in initial capital before listing the token on a decentralized exchange.

Prosecutors say the group used multiple wallets and circular trading to hide their control of the token supply. CATFI’s price surged approximately 1,001 times within 26 hours of listing, drawing about 6,000 buyers. After the operators sold their holdings, the price collapsed and 256 investors suffered combined losses of about 900 million won.

Two suspects have been detained and indicted, one was charged without detention, and two others face charges for allegedly helping the main suspect evade investigators. The investigation was led by Seoul’s newly formed investigative crime unit for virtual assets.

The charges were filed under the fraudulent trading provisions of South Korea’s user protection law, which took effect in July 2024. An earlier prosecution under the same statute involved alleged market manipulation on a centralized exchange; prosecutors describe this case as the first focused on trading activity tied to a decentralized exchange.

Solana-based projects have experienced similar rug pulls in the past, and authorities say they will pursue cases they view as harming trust in virtual asset markets.