Do Kwon co-founded Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies.
Do Kwon, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that misplaced an estimated $40 billion or extra final yr, has been charged with fraud by U.S. prosecutors.
An eight-count indictment in opposition to Kwon was made public within the U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan, a number of hours after information of his arrest earlier Thursday in Montenegro.
Attorneys for Kwon in the USA didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark after enterprise hours.
Thursday’s indictment costs Kwon, a South Korean nationwide who co-founded Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, with two counts every of securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy.
The legal case follows associated U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee civil costs in opposition to Kwon and Terraform final month.
Kwon had been a fugitive for a number of months, and South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for him final September.
South Korean police stated on Friday that the identification of the suspect arrested in Montenegro had been confirmed as Kwon after his fingerprints matched the knowledge held by the nation’s Nationwide Police Company (KNPA).
“This has been shared with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Workplace and Interpol in Montenegro,” one official on the KNPA stated.
Prosecutors will work with different establishments to hold out a swift repatriation, a spokesperson for the nation’s prosecution service stated.
Montenegro’s inside ministry stated police detained an individual regarded as Kwon and a second suspect, who have been making an attempt to board a flight to Dubai at Podgorica airport.
Police discovered cast passports of Costa Rica and Belgium in the course of the encounter, the ministry stated.
“The individual is suspected of being probably the most wished fugitives, South Korean nationwide Do Kwon, a co-founder and CEO of the Singapore-based Terraform Labs,” Inside Minister Filip Adzic wrote on Twitter.
“The previous cryptocurrency king who’s behind losses of over $40 billion, has been apprehended on the Podgorica airport with cast paperwork,” Adzic added.
TerraUSD was a so-called “stablecoin” designed to take care of a relentless $1 worth, whereas Luna’s worth fluctuated.
However authorities have stated TerraUSD and Luna have been paired, such {that a} decline in a single may take down the opposite.
In addition they stated Kwon misrepresented the soundness of TerraUSD, as soon as among the many prime 10 cryptocurrencies by market worth.
Each currencies crashed final Might, with TerraUSD’s worth sinking to lower than one penny.
In its civil case, the SEC accused Kwon and Terraform of “orchestrating a multi-billion greenback crypto asset securities fraud.
“We additionally allege that they dedicated fraud by repeating false and deceptive statements to construct belief earlier than inflicting devastating losses for buyers,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated in an announcement on the time.
