South Korean Court Denies Arrest Warrant for Terraform Co-Founder Daniel Shin

April 1, 2023 Bitcoin.com

South Korean officials traveled to Serbia to find Do Kwon

February 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

South Korean authorities have previously requested cooperation from the Serbian government to bring Kwon back.

The hunt for the controversial founder of the now-collapsed Terra ecosystem, Do Kwon, has intensified with South Korean officials reportedly confirming they sent at least two people to Serbia to track him down.

According to a Feb. 7 Bloomberg report, the prosecutor’s office in Seoul said the reports “aren’t false” regarding members of its team trekking out to the Balkan state to find Kwon.

It appears at least two state officials went — one from the prosecutor’s office and the other from South Korea’s Justice Ministry.

Do Kwon speaking at a conference about Terra before the ecosys. Source: Terra.

South Korean-based publication Chosun Media reported on Dec. 11 that a state intelligence official informed them that Kwon had based himself in Serbia.

There is currently no extradition treaty between South Korea and Serbia.

This likely made Serbia a great hideout spot for Kwon, according to a recent opinion article from Minso Kim, a writer for the South Korean publication Chosun Media.

South Korea has however stripped Kwon of his passport, which may make future travel more difficult.

Kwon has been accused of being on the run since Sept. 14, when South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant against him, an accusation that he denied in October.

The 31-year-old fallen entrepreneur has also been accused of breaching capital markets laws.

While Kwon is known to be a prolific tweeter, he went nearly two months without tweeting or retweeting a single post — causing some to speculate what the controversial figure has been up to.

But Kwon recently responded to an evocative tweet targeted at him, stating that he hasn’t stolen any money and has never had any “secret cashouts.”

I find that Twitter is a good place for rumors but poor place to get facts

I've stolen no money and never had "secret cashouts" - happy to address specific allegations

In any case, good day to you
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) February 1, 2023

To date, Kwon denies any wrongdoing.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem was in part triggered by the de-peg of its TerraClassicUSD (USTC) algorithmic stablecoin, UST. Terra Classic (LUNC) was closely linked to the stablecoin, with that too falling close to 100%.

Approximately $60 billion worth of value was wiped out of the ecosystem.

Cointelegraph reached out to Terraform Labs and the South Korean Prosecutor’s office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Terra co-founder Do Kwon hiding out in Serbia, authorities say

December 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

arrest warrant

South Korean authorities have requested cooperation from the Serbian government in order to bring Kwon back to face charges in South Korea.

The global manhunt for Terraform Labs' controversial founder and CEO Do Kwon continues to rage on, with South Korean authorities now believing he's in Serbia after leaving Singapore in September.

According to a Dec. 11 report from Chosun Media, South Korean authorities followed a tip-off concerning Do Kwon's whereabouts suggesting he is now in Serbia and has been able to confirm it.

"Recently, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was found to be true," an official told the outlet.

The report also states that South Korea’s Ministry of Finance “is in the process of requesting cooperation from the Serbian government” as part of the investigation.

South Korean authorities have been on the hunt for Do Kwon since Terra's collapse, but haven't seemed to have had much luck pinpointing his location until now.

The 31-year-old was understood to have moved to Singapore toward the end of April, just before the Terra ecosystem’s shock collapse.

On Sept. 14, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office's Financial and Securities Criminal Unit issued an arrest warrant against Kwon for allegedly violating South Korean capital markets laws.

Around that time, authorities in Singapore confirmed that Kwon was no longer in the country, and was understood to have flown to Dubai in transit to a new unknown destination.

Shortly after that, on Sept. 26, Interpol also reportedly issued a “Red Notice” against Kwon. As of Dec. 11, however, Do Kwon doesn't appear to have been added to Interpol’s Red Notice database on the website.

On Oct. 6, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an order for Kwon to surrender his passport. The ministry added that failure to comply would result in the cancellation of his passport altogether.

Later that month, prosecutors in South Korea c onfirmed reports that Do Kwon had flown to Dubai for a possible stopover before heading to another destination — which, as it turns out, might have been Serbia.

If Do Kwon turns out to be in Serbia, it remains to be seen what, if any, legal strings can be pulled from South Korea to try to extradite the Terraform Labs founder.

While South Korea has entered into a bilateral extradition treaty with 31 countries, Serbia is not among them. However, South Korea has also entered into a much broader multilateral extradition treaty with the Council of Europe, to which Serbia is a signatory.

Kwon has maintained that he is not “on the run” and has been “making zero effort to hide." He's continued to be active on social media over the last few months.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May was partly triggered by the depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD Classic, USTC (formerly UST), which in turn brought down its sister asset Luna Classic, LUNC (formerly LUNA) by nearly 100%.

Cointelegraph reached out to representatives for Terraform Labs for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

South Korean prosecutors accuse Do Kwon of manipulating Terra’s price

November 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

arrest warrant

Prosecutors have reportedly secured a "messenger conversation" in which Kwon ordered an employee to manipulate Terra's market price.

A local report from South Korea claims that the country's prosecutors have obtained evidence to suggest Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon had onceordered an employee to manipulate the price of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).

A report by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) on Nov. 3 quotes an official from the South Korean Prosecutors Office, who said they have obtained a "conversation history" in which "CEO Kwon specifically ordered price manipulation."

The reported evidence came in the form of a "messenger conversation" between Kwon and a former Terraform Labs employee. Prosecutors did not disclose further details, noting:

“I can’t reveal details, but it was a conversation history where CEO Kwon specifically ordered price manipulation.”

While the exact details of the price manipulation remain undisclosed, the price action of Terra’s LUNC (formerly LUNA) during the last bull market was undoubtedly one of the most impressive across all cryptocurrencies.

Its price rose over 2,800% from $4.18 in late May 2021 to its all-time high of $119.18 on Apr. 5. 2022, before its cataclysmic fall on Apr. 30, according to CoinGecko data.

The report however notes that Kwon's representative has continued to deny these allegations.

Kwon and his representatives have also previously denied alleged violations of South Korea's capital markets laws.

In September, Terraform Labs said the case against its co-founder has become "highly politicized" and that prosecutors expanded the definition of a security in response to public pressure.

Kwon’s whereabouts now point to Europe

Kwon's whereabouts ultimately continue to remain a mystery, despite the Terra ecosystem co-founder previously arguing he is "not on the run."

Previous reports have suggested Kwon first moved from South Korea to Singapore, before transitioning to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The KBS report now suggests Kwon is residing somewhere in Europe, and as of Nov. 3, without a valid passport.

“Kwon, who has an arrest warrant, had his passport invalidated as of today,” the report stated, adding:

“Do Kwon is now an illegal immigrant, wherever he is, in any country, and he cannot travel legally between countries.”

If found, Kwon will also have to deal with a $57 million lawsuit recently filed against him, his fellow Terra co-founder Nicholas Platias and the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) in the Singapore High Court.

The plaintiff argued that Kwon, Platias and the LFG fraudulently claimed Terra’s stablecoin, Terra USD (UST) — now TerraUSD Classic (USTC) — was “stable by design” and able to maintain its peg to the U.S. dollar.

The worldwide law enforcement effort to pinpoint the controversial CEO’s location hasn’t stopped Kwon from being active on social media, with the most recent Twitter post from Kwon shared on Nov. 3.

Strangely, these last few weeks have been one of the most creative periods of my life. https://t.co/iE6DuwceVF
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) November 3, 2022

Cointelegraph reached out to Terraform Labs and the South Korean Prosecutor's Office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Terra co-founder Do Kwon says he’s not ‘on the run’

September 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

arrest warrant

Kwon didn’t reveal his whereabouts in a series of Tweets responding to claims he fled Singapore after an arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday.

Do Kwon, the co-founder of the Terra ecosystem, took to Twitter on Saturday asserting he’s “not ‘on the run’ or anything similar” after the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said Kwon wasn’t in the city-state.

On Sept. 14, South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and five other associates for alleged violations of the country’s capital markets laws. All were known to be in Singapore at the time, with prosecutors also attempting to revoke their passports a day later on Sept. 15.

“For any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide,” Kwon tweeted.

I am not “on the run” or anything similar - for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

Kwon did not reveal where he was, saying crypto Twitter has “no business knowing my GPS coordinates.” He added they are defending themselves in “multiple jurisdictions” and look forward to “clarifying the truth over the next few months.”

We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions - we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

Singapore does not have an extradition treaty with South Korea, but the SPF stated it will assist Korean authorities within the scope of its domestic laws and international obligations and didn’t provide any further details.

In May, the Terra ecosystem Kwon co-founded arguably had the biggest crash in cryptocurrency history after its algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD Classic (USTC), originally TerraUSD (UST) lost its US dollar peg to hit a low of $0.006 in June.

Its sister asset, now known as Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) met a similar fate with an all-time low of $0.0000009 in May after hitting its all-time high of over $119 the month prior. The twin collapses caused panic among traders, with selling pressure leading to a wider collapse in the digital asset market.

Previously, South Korean prosecutors banned Terra employees from leaving the country in June to stop the possibility of them fleeing to avoid investigation, Do Kwon was already residing in Singapore at the time.

In July, South Korean authorities raided 15 firms including seven crypto exchanges connected to the collapse of Terra reportedly gaining access to data related to USTC and LUNC transactions.