Terraform Labs Co-Founder Do Kwon Could Be Thrown In Jail For 40 Years In South Korea

Do Kwon, co-founder and former CEO of now-defunct Terraform Labs, is facing a jail term of up to 40 years in South Korea, the country where he committed most of his crimes.

The prosecutor overseeing Kwon’s probe believes that the repatriation of the South Korean national would be the best way to serve justice to investors who were affected by the unprecedented collapse of the Terra ecosystem back in May 2022.

Kwon’s Extradition To S.Korea Would Best Serve Justice To Terra Victims: Prosecutor

South Korean prosecutors are pushing for Do Kwon to face justice in his native homeland.

Kwon is accused of orchestrating the fall of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) alongside the network’s native asset LUNA, which saw over $40 billion dollars wiped out from the crypto market and sparked fears of contagion across the market.

The leader of the South Korean prosecutors’ team investigating the implosion of the two cryptocurrencies, Dan Sung-han, notes that South Korea is where most of Kwon’s crimes took place and his accomplices are also based there. “Given the nature of this incident, we think investigating the case in South Korea would be the most efficient way of bringing justice [to investors]”, the prosecutor said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

As such, Sung-Han is pushing for the former Terraform Labs CEO to face criminal charges in his home country, despite efforts from the U.S. government to extradite him.

Kwon and his associates are facing charges of fraud, breaches of Korean capital markets laws, using bots to manipulate transaction volumes, bribery, and a string of other financial crimes.

If found guilty, Do Kwon would likely face an unparalleled jail term for a financial crime in the nation’s history. Per Sung-han, it could potentially transcend the 40-year prison sentence handed out to Seoul-based Optimus Asset Management CEO Kim Jae-hyun.

Meanwhile, the disgraced crypto mogul has requested that charges brought against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) be dismissed.

Whether Kwon will be extradited to South Korea or the United States will be determined once Montenegro authorities conclude their case against him for document forgery charges.