130 years in prison
Crypto bankrupt Kwon on trial in US court for fraud
Following the extradition of South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon to the USA, he was brought before a federal judge in New York on Thursday. The judge opened proceedings against the 33-year-old for fraud and money laundering.
Kwon had been on the run from the US and South Korean authorities for almost a year. If found guilty on all nine charges, he faces a sentence of up to 130 years in prison.
Kwon must answer for fraudulently deceiving investors about the true value of his cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs, explained US Attorney General Merrick Garland. According to the report, Kwon had defrauded investors of more than 40 billion dollars (38.8 billion euros) in total. The cryptocurrency Terra collapsed in May 2022.
Business partner extradited to South Korea
Kwon is also under investigation in his home country for the fraud. His business partner, whose only initials are J. C. H., was extradited from Montenegro to South Korea in early February 2024.
Kwon was the head and co-founder of the Singapore-based start-up Terraform Labs, which issued the cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and its sister currency Luna. The entrepreneur issued the two currencies as so-called stablecoins, which are pegged to traditional currencies such as the US dollar in order to prevent major fluctuations in value. In reality, however, Kwon did not hedge his cryptocurrencies with safe investments such as government bonds.
Both imploded in May 2022, Terraform Labs went bankrupt and Kwon subsequently withdrew. South Korea then called Interpol to have Kwon declared a wanted person in 195 Interpol member states worldwide.
Bankrupt was arrested in Montenegro
Kwon fled from South Korea to Montenegro via Singapore. He was arrested there in March 2023 at the airport in the capital Podgorica when he tried to fly to Dubai with a fake Costa Rican passport. At the time of his arrest, Kwon was one of the world's most wanted suspected white-collar criminals.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.