Crypto Titan Terra's Do Kwon Sentenced to 4 Months Behind Bars!

Published 2 hours ago2 minute read
Crypto Titan Terra's Do Kwon Sentenced to 4 Months Behind Bars!

Do Kwon, the founder and CEO of TerraLabs and the alleged mastermind behind the 2022 Terra (Luna and UST) collapse, has been sentenced to four months imprisonment in Montenegro. This sentence, handed down by a Basic Court in Podgorica on Monday, is for the possession of forged passports and travel documents, a development that may offer some satisfaction to those who suffered significant financial losses from the Terra debacle.

Kwon, along with Han Chong-Joon, former Chief Financial Officer at TerraLabs, was found guilty of using forged Costa Rican and Belgian passports while attempting to travel to Dubai via a private jet from Montenegro's airport. Both executives received the same four-month jail term. They were arrested earlier this year in Montenegro on these charges, to which they had pleaded not guilty. Do Kwon informed the court last week that he acquired the travel documents through an agency in Singapore, which was recommended by a friend, and denied any knowledge that the documents were forged.

This sentencing follows weeks after Kwon and Han were granted a €400,000 bail each, though an earlier bail granted in May was voided by an upper court after a prosecutor's appeal regarding property assessment. The court has stated that the duration of their detention will be factored into their sentences, and they retain the right to appeal the verdict in a higher court within eight days of receiving a written copy.

While this particular sentence is not directly related to his role in the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and the cryptocurrency LUNA, which wiped out over $40 billion from the crypto market in May 2022, it marks a significant development in the series of lawsuits and legal challenges facing Do Kwon. The United States charged him with securities fraud in February, followed by federal prosecutors filing additional fraud charges over the failure of his cryptocurrency projects. Concurrently, South Korea has issued an arrest warrant against the Terraform Labs founder.

Despite the recent bail, the Montenegro Court has confirmed that Do Kwon will remain in 'extradition custody' for six months to consider extradition requests from both South Korea and the United States. Dan Sung-Han, head of the South Korean prosecution team investigating the Terra crash, indicated that if convicted in South Korea, Do Kwon could face the longest jail term for a financial crime in the nation's history. Do Kwon, however, has consistently denied committing fraud, asserting his belief in Terra and claiming to have also lost money in its collapse.

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