Do Kwon’s Illicit Funds Reportedly Not in South Korea
- The now arrested Terraform Labs CEO had reportedly converted the majority of his illicit funds into BTC using foreign exchanged not under the jurisdiction of South Korea.
- While none of the assets tied to Do Kwon were recoverable, South Korean authorities continue to seize assets and properties tied to other executives of Terra.
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South Korean prosecutors have found that the assets tied to Do Kwon, the founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, were not recoverable as they had been converted to Bitcoin (BTC), local news outlet KBS reported on 7 April.
According to the publication, the prosecutor’s investigation identified nine executives of Terraform Labs that had made close to 414.5 billion won ($315 million) in illicit assets from the enterprise. The South Korean prosecutors, however, found “almost none” of the 91.4 billion won ($70 million) that was directly connected to Do Kwon as it was not under the jurisdiction of the South Korean authorities.
The now arrested Do Kwon reportedly converted the majority of his illicit funds into BTC through overseas crypto exchanges instead of investing in physical assets in the country. The South Korean authorities continue to actively trace any assets and properties associated with Terra executives as a way to recover some of the funds lost during the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.
Earlier this week, prosecutors confiscated around $160 million worth of assets from eight individuals connected to former Terra executives — including former Terra Vice President Kim Mo — mainly in the form of real estate. The moved was reportedly aimed at preventing the former employees from disposing of the assets in an attempt to avoid being part of potential criminal proceedings.
Do Kwon was on the run from authorities ever since the Terra debacle, and was finally arrested in Montenegro on 23 March. Only hours after Kwon was detained, U.S. federal prosecutors charged the Terra executive with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy to engage in market manipulation. Now both the U.S. and South Korea have requested the extradition of Kwon.
- One of the largest South Korean commercial banks, KEB Hana Bank, partnered with crypto custodian BitGo in order to set up a new crypto custody venture in the country.
- The new venture, which will use BitGo’s crypto security expertise and Hana’s experience in financial services and compliance, is expected to launch in the second half of 2024.
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- The team behind Multichain confirmed that their CEO was detained in China on 21 May, and that all of his electronic devices were confiscated by the local police.
- The CEO’s sister moved the project’s remaining funds to wallets under her control on 9 July, and several days later was also detained by the police, leaving the team with no funds.
- Terraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon and CFO Han Chang-Joon were found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison for their use of forged Costa Rican passports.
- The Basic Court in the country’s capital Podgorica clarified that the time both individuals spent under detention in the country will also be taken into account.