Yonhap News reported on April 11 that prosecutors in South Korea are seeking a court order to freeze Do Kwon’s assets worth $5.3 million in the country. Kwon, who co-founded Terraform Labs, has been under investigation in South Korea for fraud and tax evasion since the collapse of Terra-LUNA, which wiped out almost $40 billion in market value in May 2022. The prosecutors are also tracing potential criminal proceeds generated by Kwon overseas, which are parked in different cryptocurrency exchanges and Swiss bank accounts.
Last week, prosecutors stated that Kwon had converted almost all his property in South Korea to Bitcoin (BTC) and transferred it to foreign exchanges like Binance. The prosecutors have contacted Binance to freeze Kwon’s assets on the exchange. On the other hand, authorities have frozen approximately $116.5 million worth of assets belonging to Daniel Shin, who co-founded Terraform Labs with Kwon, including land, buildings, and cars.
According to the South Korean authorities, Kwon, Shin, and seven other Terraform employees made approximately $314.2 million by defrauding investors. Shin allegedly earned more than $115 million, while Kwon earned $69 million from the collapse, the prosecutors claim.
Since the collapse, Kwon had been one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, with Interpol issuing a red notice in September 2022. After being on the run for 11 months, Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March. Following his arrest, Kwon was charged by U.S. authorities with eight counts of fraud, including securities, commodities, and wire fraud. Both the U.S. and South Korea are looking to extradite Kwon, who is currently being held in Montenegro. In addition, Kwon is facing charges of traveling with fake documents in Montenegro.
