A decide in New York federal courtroom sentenced Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to fifteen years in jail for his function within the collapse of UST and LUNA, which erased practically $40 billion from the cryptocurrency trade in 2022.
Decide Paul Engelmayer famous that Kwon had offered false info to traders for roughly 4 years. These misleading practices have been thought of much more damaging than bizarre funding errors.
Testimony in the course of the proceedings confirmed the influence on people affected by the collapse. One particular person, Tatiana Dontsova, shared that she bought her dwelling in Moscow to speculate and was left with solely $13.
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The corporate’s chapter information affirm that about 16,500 folks have been affected.
A plea settlement in August 2025 noticed Kwon admit to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud. He accepted forfeiture of greater than $19 million in earnings, whereas US prosecutors have been set to advocate a sentence capped at 12 years.
The decide selected an extended sentence by citing the broad penalties and stage of dishonesty concerned. He acknowledged:
Your fraud was unusually severe. For 4 years you publicly lied to the market <…> What makes what you probably did so despicable is that you just traded on belief.
Earlier than the sentence was introduced, Kwon mentioned he had mirrored on his errors and hoped to serve his time in his dwelling nation. He talked about the potential of switch to South Korea after serving a part of his sentence within the US.
Costs additionally await Kwon in South Korea, the place penalties might attain a further 40 years in jail.
Just lately, Decide Engelmayer sought readability on how Do Kwon’s South Korea and Montenegro prices might have an effect on his upcoming US sentencing. What did he say? Learn the complete story.
