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February 16, 2023

SEC files fraud charges against fugitive Terra/Luna CEO, Do Kwon

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed charges against Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Kwon, relating to the May 2022 collapse of the Terra/Luna projects. The complaint accuses Terraform and Kwon of offering unregistered securities and of fraud, and the SEC wrote in a press release that Kwon and the company "orchestrat[ed] a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud".

According to the SEC, Kwon "repeatedly misled and deceived investors" about the characteristics and stability of Terra and Luna, and tricked investors into believing that a popular Korean mobile payments platform used the Terra blockchain.

Kwon has been on the run from the law since Korean authorities filed a warrant for his arrest in September 2022. An Interpol red notice followed soon after. He is reportedly hiding out in Serbia, and Korean authorities reportedly traveled there in early February to hunt for him.

"SEC Charges Terraform and CEO Do Kwon with Defrauding Investors in Crypto Schemes", United States Securities and Exchange Commission

February 15, 2023

South Korean authorities issue arrest warrant to CEO of Tmon e-commerce platform for shilling Terra

South Korean authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the former CEO of Tmon, a major Korean e-commerce platform. The allege that he was bribed with Luna tokens, which he exchanged for billions of won (worth around US$105 million), to promote Terra: the stablecoin in the Terra/Luna ecosystem.

Terra and Luna dramatically collapsed in May 2022, and South Korean authorities are still hunting for Terra leader Do Kwon, who is reportedly hiding in Serbia. Earlier this month, Korean authorities reportedly traveled to Serbia to try to locate him, but were unsuccessful.

"Korean e-commerce exec accused of accepting LUNA for shilling Terra Labs", Cointelegraph
"Former CEO of TMON Gets an Arrest Warrant for Allegedly Receiving LUNA Bribes (Report)", CryptoPotato
"The Hunt for Crypto Fugitive Do Kwon Led South Korean Officials to Serbia Last Week", Bloomberg

October 5, 2022

South Korea reportedly freezes $39.6 million in crypto belonging to Terra founder Do Kwon, Kwon says it isn't his

South Korean prosecutors have reportedly frozen $39.6 million in crypto assets belonging to Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs and creator of the failed Terra blockchain project. South Korea had also previously issued a warrant for his arrest.

Kwon claims that the report is a "falsehood", and "I don't know whose funds they've frozen". This joins his other claims, such as that he is "not 'on the run' or anything similar" (he is), and that Interpol didn't issue a red notice for him (they have).

"Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon refutes reports about his funds getting frozen", TechCrunch

September 14, 2022

South Korea issues arrest warrant for Terra founder Do Kwon

Do Kwon (attribution)

A South Korean court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Do Kwon, the founder of the Terra ecosystem, as well as five other people. According to Bloomberg the allegations include violations of Korea's capital markets law.

Kwon and the others named in the warrant are currently in Singapore. In June, Korea banned current and former Terraform Labs employees from leaving the country, and in July Korean authorities raided multiple exchanges in connection to their investigation.

August 19, 2022

Hodlnaut seems to have lied about their Terra exposure

(attribution)

When Terra was collapsing in May, concerned users of the Hodlnaut lending platform asked whether the firm was exposed. CEO JT wrote on Twitter, "Hodlnaut as a firm did not take any losses on UST, users who held/bought UST on our platform did". Their social media manager wrote, "[Holdnaut] had 0 company exposure to [Anchor Protocol]", referring to the Terra-based lending protocol.

However, documents from the legal proceedings surrounding the now-underwater firm revealed that Hodlnaut had 317 million UST, which it liquidated at a loss when the previously dollar-pegged UST hit $0.85. In the filing, they wrote, "Due to the market's lack of liquidity, the average exit price of UST to USDC was around 42 cents on the dollar, resulting in realized losses to Hodlnaut Trading Ltd of about USD 189.7M. As a result, Hodlnaut's total debt to depositors of USD 500M became backed by realisable assets of around USD 315M as of 13 May 2022 due to the de-pegging event."

"Hodlnaut Cuts Staff as Terra Exposure Is Revealed", Crypto Briefing
Tweet by FatMan

July 20, 2022

Korean authorities raid seven cryptocurrency exchanges in relation to Terra investigation

Korean police cars parked outside an office building at nighttime. A lit "Upbit" sign is visible.

Korean police executing one of the raids (attribution)

Prosecutors working on the fraud case around the May Terra/Luna collapse raided seven cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea including Bithumb, Upbit, and Coinone. They also raided eight other offices and residences in connection to the investigation. The investigators are reportedly looking for evidence to determine whether Terra founder and CEO Do Kwon may have intentionally spurred the collapse of the ecosystem.

"Prosecutors Raid 7 Korean Exchanges Amid Terra Probe: Report", CoinDesk

July 6, 2022

Report reveals that crypto investment firm Uprise lost 99% of customer funds trying to short Luna during its collapse

According to Seoul Economic Daily, the Korean cryptocurrency investment fund Uprise lost 99% of its customer funds when they tried to short Luna during its collapse in May. Although Luna crashed in price from around $90 to fractions of a cent, brief price spikes were enough to wipe out Uprise's positions. The firm lost 99% of its customers' funds, or ₩26.7 billion ($20.5 million), as well as an additional ₩3.9 billion ($3 million) of its own money.

The firm advertised its AI-enabled automatic trading strategies, which it said would reduce the risk involved with leveraged crypto trading.

A spokesperson for Uprise stated, "It is true that damage to customer assets has occurred due to unexpected great volatility in the market."

"Uprise lost 99% of client funds while shorting LUNA during its price crash: SE Daily", The Block
[단독] '카카오·KB 베팅' 코인투자사, 루나로 267억 날렸다, Seoul Economic Daily (in Korean)

June 20, 2022

South Korea bans current and former Terraform Labs employees from leaving the country

(attribution)

A former employee of Terraform Labs, the company behind the Terra project that collapsed in May, found that he was banned from leaving the country. According to the former employee, he wasn't notified at all: "when i found out about this, the south korean prosecution told me they usually don't notify people of this because they might destroy evidence and/or leave the country beforehand".

He later clarified that he was willing to cooperate with the investigation against TFL, but was dismayed that employees who left long before the collapse were facing an exit ban, and that they weren't notified of the ban.

Terra is facing a class action lawsuit from Korean investors, and local news had previously reported that South Korean authorities had launched an investigation.

June 13, 2022

Terra investors file class action lawsuit against Binance.US

(attribution)

A group of people who put money into Terra (UST), the stablecoin that collapsed in May, have filed a class action lawsuit against Binance.US. Binance.US is a crypto exchange that operates within the US, managed independently from Binance, which is not available to US customers due to fears that it would run afoul of US securities regulations.

The lawsuit argues that UST is an unregistered security, and that as a result, Binance.US was violating securities laws by listing it. The lawsuit also alleges that Binance.US misled investors, leading them to believe that UST was more stable than it actually was. More than 2,000 investors have joined the lawsuit.

June 3, 2022

Timechain allegedly attempts to falsely blame missing money on Terra collapse

The Canadian firm Timechain claimed that they lost around $4 million to the Terra collapse, a loss they said destroyed the company. Timechain claimed that a stop-loss mechanism that should have triggered in Binance to avoid such devastating losses never actually fired, resulting in a loss of more than 95%. However, Binance has reported that Timechain almost completely emptied their account before the Terra collapse.

"Timechain et ses dirigeants font l’objet d’une enquête", La Presse (in French)
"Dépouillés par une compagnie québécoise de cryptomonnaie", Le Journal de Montréal (in French)

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