Former Cryptocurrency Executive Do Kwon Faces Criminal Fraud Charges in US Over TerraUSD and Luna Coins

Do Kwon, the South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that lost an estimated $40 billion in 2022, will appear in a US court on Thursday to face criminal fraud charges after being extradited from Montenegro this week.

In March 2023, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs and developer of the TerraUSD and Luna coins, with two counts each of securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and conspiracy.

Kwon has denied any wrongdoing. Last June he agreed to pay an $80 million civil penalty and be prohibited from trading in cryptocurrencies as part of a $4.55 billion settlement he and Terraform reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

He is expected to appear before Federal Judge Robert Lehrburger in Manhattan Federal Court on Thursday afternoon.

Last April, a federal jury in Manhattan found Kwon and Terraform liable in a civil trial for defrauding. cryptocurrency investors.

A lawyer for Terraform said in closing arguments that Terraform and Kwon had been truthful about their products and how they worked, even when they failed.

Kwon did not attend that trial because he had been detained in Montenegro since March 2023. Terraform filed for bankruptcy last January.