Key Takeaways
- Korean courts have frozen $2 billion of Do Kwon’s belongings, seizing luxurious automobiles and residences.
- Awaiting Kwon is a passport fraud trial in Montenegro and eight legal fraud fees within the United States.
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South Korean authorities have frozen round $2 billion price of belongings tied to Do Kwon, the CEO of blockchain agency Terraform Labs, as they proceed their investigation into the catastrophic crash of cryptocurrencies Terra Classic (USTC) and Luna Classic (LUNC).
Local authorized insiders disclosed that Seoul’s Southern District Court authorised a pre-indictment asset seizure request by prosecutors focusing on Kwon’s wealth on May 10, in accordance to native information outlet Hankyung. The request sought to freeze round 2.33 trillion Korean received (roughly $2 billion) in belongings that Kwon allegedly accrued via legal actions. This pre-indictment seizure prevents the disposal of belongings or earnings obtained by a defendant earlier than a conviction is finalized.
The court docket’s choice places a halt on Kwon’s potential choice to get rid of numerous high-value belongings together with the luxurious “Galleria Foret” house advanced in Seoul’s Seongdong-gu district, the rights to newly constructed office-tels in Nonhyeon-dong and a number of other imported luxurious autos. In addition to those bodily belongings, monetary holdings such as securities held with Mirae Asset Daewoo, deposits in Woori Bank, and cryptocurrencies in numerous exchanges are additionally now frozen. The court docket rejected requests to freeze some of Kwon’s different unspecified monetary belongings.
Kwon, at the moment indicted with out detention, and Hyun Sung Shin, former CEO of Chai Corporation, co-founded Terraform Labs in 2018 and launched the USTC stablecoin and LUNC cryptocurrencies. Following the mission’s collapse, Terraform Labs rebranded its cryptocurrencies: dollar-pegged TerraUSD (UST), which is now defunct, changed into Terra Classic; and the extra speculative Terra (LUNA) rebranded to LUNA2 whereas the unique LUNA blockchain was renamed Luna Classic (LUNC).
In May 2022, a drastic plunge within the worth of these cash inflicted international traders with losses approximated at a staggering 50 trillion received, or round $44 billion.
Following the Terra crash, Kwon left South Korea and had been tough to trace till he was arrested in Montenegro on March 23, 2023, dealing with fees of utilizing a counterfeit Costa Rican passport on his strategy to Dubai. Kwon is now awaiting trial in Montenegro for passport fraud fees, whereas the United States charged Kwon with eight legal fees of fraud. Korean and United States prosecutors are unsure when they’ll have the ability to safe his extradition.