As Do Kwon, the disgraced co-founder and CEO of the blockchain firm Terraform Labs (TFL), is currently caught in a jurisdictional battle between his home country South Korea and the United States, Seoul prosecutors said that he could face more than 40 years in jail time, if convicted of the charges filed against him.
Dan Sung-Han, the leading prosecutor handling Kwon’s case in South Korea, said that the crypto executive could get the longest jail sentence for a financial crime in the country’s history if convicted, exceeding the 40 years handed out last year to perpetrators behind a fraud case involving Seoul-based hedge fund Optimus Asset Management.
Kwon is currently in Montenegro after he was arrested in March and is facing charges of traveling using fake documents.
While the crypto executive, known for his brash and condescending demeanor toward his critics, is facing several charges in multiple countries, including the U.S., South Korean prosecutors believe prosecuting Kwon in his home country is the best way to give justice to his victims.
“Given the nature of this incident, we think investigating the case in South Korea would be the most efficient way of bringing justice,” Dan said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“We’ve collected a large swath of evidence pertaining to the TerraUSD case overall, much of which is information that cannot be easily obtained in the U.S.,” the South Korean leading prosecutor said, adding that a successful prosecution in Kwon’s home country could lay the foundation for the charges the crypto executive is facing in the U.S.
“It’s ultimately a matter of which location is more efficient, and what is the best way of bringing justice, and I believe the U.S. is willing to cooperate,” the prosecutor said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about setting up proper protections for investors in the cryptocurrency market and preventing incidents that disrupt capital markets,” Dan noted, underlining that the spectacular crash of Terra’s so-called algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and the token LUNA, paved the way for a global discussion on the crucial need for releasing tiger cryptocurrency regulations.
Terra’s collapse in May 2022 wiped out approximately $40 billion in investments and triggered a chain of events that saw the closure and filing for bankruptcy by several cryptocurrency businesses.
It also taught investors one of the greatest lessons in investing, that is, while crypto assets are highly volatile, it is far more important to DYOR, or the crypto speak for Do Your Own Research, about the business, especially if they are putting all their life savings in it, which was the case of many Terra investors.
