Do Kwon, TerraForm Labs’ $26 million in assets frozen in Switzerland: report
By Bryan Ke
June 27, 2023
Cryptocurrency assets tied to Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon and other key figures have reportedly been frozen in Switzerland just a few weeks after Kwon was sentenced to prison in Montenegro.
Latest development: Swiss authorities reportedly froze about $26 million worth of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets tied to the defunct startup Terraform Labs, Kwon and other key figures, according to South Korean news outlet Digital Asset.
The freezing of assets, kept in Sygnum, a digital asset bank based in Switzerland, was reportedly in response to a request from New York prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Digital Asset reported, citing unnamed authorities and investigators.
Jailed for months: The recent news came just a few weeks after Kwon, whose real name is Kwon Do-hyung, was sentenced to four months in jail in Montenegro. Kwon and his associate, Han Chang-Joon, were found guilty of falsifying documents, a spokesperson for the Basic Court in Podgorica told CNN.
South Korean prosecutors had previously sought to have Kwon extradited to their country. The effort was met with a delay after he and Han were indicted for forgery following their arrest at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro on March 23.
His downfall: Kwon’s downfall started after Terraform Labs’ stablecoin UST and sister cryptocurrency Luna lost $40 billion of its value in a matter of days in May 2022. The defunct co-founder immediately went on the run. Interpol eventually issued a red notice for him, effectively making him a wanted man in Interpol’s 195 member countries.
Besides South Korea, Kwon is also facing charges in the U.S., where he is facing securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy charges.
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