The Seoul Southern District Court has granted the prosecutors’ request to freeze approximately $176 million of assets, including cryptocurrencies, owned by Do Kwon, the notorious co-founder of Terraform Labs. His access to his home, studio flat, expensive cars, and certain money deposits has also been blocked by the authorities. The prosecutors are pushing for Kwon’s extradition to South Korea to face justice for his alleged role in the Terra crash that affected multiple investors last year. Kwon could face a maximum prison sentence of 40 years if convicted in his homeland.
More Trouble for Kwon
A local media report revealed that the Korean magistrates have frozen Kwon’s assets to prevent him from selling them before the trial. The assets worth nearly $176 million include digital currencies, luxurious vehicles, a Galleria Forêt property, a Nonhyun-dong studio, securities at brokerage firm Mirae Asset, and money deposits at Woori Bank. However, Kwon has other belongings that the Seoul Southern District Court has not frozen.
Kwon, who has been on the run for several months after the LUNA/UST collapse, was finally arrested in Montenegro in mid-March this year and is currently held in a correctional facility in the Balkan country before being deported to another country to face justice. Extradition to the USA or South Korea seems most likely. He could face a jail term of over 100 years if found guilty in the States, whereas the maximum sentence in his homeland would be 40 years.
Kwon’s Tricky Maneuvers
The collapse of Terra’s LUNA and UST tokens one year ago triggered multi-billion investor losses and shook the entire cryptocurrency industry. Kwon, accused of being the main culprit behind the meltdown, managed to evade law enforcement and regulators for several months. He allegedly used several nations, including the UAE, Russia, Mauritius, and Singapore, as hiding spots. Some sources indicated that Kwon could have moved to Europe, specifically Serbia. However, he was detained three months later in another Balkan nation, Montenegro, while carrying a forged Costa Rican passport. Kwon has reduced his Twitter activity lately.
In a post in November last year, Kwon vowed to hold a conference and reveal his hiding location, inviting police officers to attend. However, he never fulfilled that promise.
