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Do Kwon’s lawyers propose $436K bail as authorities prepare for June trial

Lawyers said Do Kwon and Han Chang-joon could be released on bail and largely confined to a Montenegro apartment with the “obligation to periodically report to the state authority.”

Authorities in Montenegro are moving forward with charges against Do Kwon and his former aide Han Chang-joon as lawyers for the Terra co-founder requested conditions for bail.

According to a May 11 notice from Montenegro’s court system, lawyers representing Kwon and Chang-joon proposed they be confined to home arrest after providing 400,000 euros — roughly $436,000 at the time of publication — each in bail. The legal team said under such conditions, the two defendants could be restricted to a Montenegro apartment with the “obligation to periodically report to the state authority.”

In March, Montenegrin authorities arrested Kwon and Chang-joon at the Podgorica airport for using “falsified documents” — reportedly forged passports. Though officials from both the United States and South Korea have made efforts to have the Terra co-founder extradited to their respective jurisdictions, he will likely first be subject to legal proceedings in Montenegro.

Through their lawyers, Kwon and Chang-joon have denied the charges, and prosecutors have opposed the proposed bail conditions. Their criminal trial is expected to begin on June 16.

Related: Prosecutor says Do Kwon’s extradition to South Korea would best serve Terraform Labs’ victims: Report

The collapse of Terra and the depegging of the TerraUSD stablecoin (UST at the time) was one of the earlier calamities in 2022 kicking off a major crypto market crash. Reports have suggested that South Korean authorities have frozen roughly $176 million worth of Kwon’s personal assets as his criminal case proceeds.

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Prosecutors Seek To Extradite Embattled Terra Founder Do Kwon to South Korea: Report

Prosecutors Seek To Extradite Embattled Terra Founder Do Kwon to South Korea: Report

South Korean authorities are looking to extradite embattled Terra (LUNA) founder Do Kwon months after he was found in the Eastern European nation of Montenegro. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the leading prosecutor in the case says that bringing Kwon back to South Korea would be the best way to […]

The post Prosecutors Seek To Extradite Embattled Terra Founder Do Kwon to South Korea: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

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Prosecutor says Do Kwon’s extradition to South Korea would best serve Terraform Labs’ victims: Report

The former Terraform Labs CEO could face 40 years in jail in South Korea, the country where he committed most of his crimes, according to local authorities.

South Korean authorities are seeking the extradition of the co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon. The prosecutor overseeing the investigation believes his repatriation would best serve the victims of the TerraUSD (USTC) and LUNA token collapses, The Wall Street Journal reported

South Korea is the place where most of the crimes Kwon is accused of took place, according to Dan Sung-han, leader of South Korean prosecutors investigating the crash of the two cryptocurrencies, which erased nearly $40 billion from the Terra ecosystem.

“Given the nature of this incident, we think investigating the case in South Korea would be the most efficient way of bringing justice” to investors, the prosecutor said in an interview with the newspaper.

Do Kwon, also a South Korean citizen, was arrested in Montenegro in March and indicted on document forgery charges. Since then, authorities from the United States and South Korea have made efforts to extradite the Terra co-founder. He is also wanted by regulatory authorities in Singapore.

Related: Terraform Labs seeks to dismiss class action arguing US laws don’t apply

During a press conference after Kwon's arrest, Montenegrin Justice Minister Marko Kovač said that a decision on his extradition would be based on "several factors," including the severity of the criminal offense, as well as the location and time of the offense. Montenegro reportedly has no extradition treaty with either Singapore or South Korea. However, it has an old extradition agreement with the United States and has previously extradited American citizens.

In late April, South Korean officials indicted Shin Hyun-seong, also a co-founder of Terraform Labs, along with nine other individuals for the collapse of the Terra ecosystem on charges of fraud, breach of trust and embezzlement.

Prosecutors accused the individuals of earning illicit profits of nearly $350 million (460 billion Korean won), the Korean daily KBS World reported. Kwon would face similar charges if extradited to his home country, Sung-han told the Journal, with a jail term of up to 40 years.

Terra was one of the earliest crypto firms that popularized the concept of algorithmic stablecoins. The ecosystem collapsed when its native stablecoin TerraClassicUSD depegged from the U.S. dollar in May 2022, triggering a snowball crisis in the crypto industry last year.

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Terraform Labs seeks to dismiss class action arguing US laws don’t apply

Federal securities laws only apply in the United States, but the protocols were developed overseas, argues Terraform Labs.

Terraform Labs is seeking to have a class action lawsuit against the firm dismissed, arguing the United States securities laws referenced are not applicable to its foreign-developed protocols. 

On May 3, Terraform Labs requested a California federal judge dismiss an investor suit brought by Nick Patterson that claimed the company sold unregistered securities and misled investors.

The firm’s attorneys, Dentons, argued that federal securities laws do not apply since the protocols were developed and used outside of the United States.

Excerpt from dismissal motion, Case No. 3:22-cv-03600. Source: Law360

The Terra/Luna ecosystem collapsed in May 2022, wiping out billions from the crypto markets. The crash has sparked a raft of lawsuits against the firm, associated entities such as the Luna Foundation Guard, and company founder Do Kwon.

In June 2022, this particular class action was filed, claiming that the Terra tokens (UST and LUNA) were securities, among other allegations.

According to Law360, Terraform’s dismissal motion argued that federal securities laws and the mail and wire fraud accusations in the suit only apply domestically.

“The federal securities laws do not apply because the SAC [Second Amended Complaint] does not allege that any of the protocols at issue were developed domestically.”

The same argument also applies to the suit’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) allegations, which claimed the firm’s goal was to reap profits at retail investors’ expense, according to Terraform.

Nick Patterson, who filed the suit on behalf of investors, did not adequately plead that mail and wire fraud allegations occurred domestically, it argued.

The motion also states that the plaintiff failed to identify the location of digital wallets containing his Terra tokens, which negates any “domestic injury” claims, according to Terraform.

Related: Do Kwon converted illicit funds from LUNA to Bitcoin: S.Korean prosecutors

Terraform and Do Kwon were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February, with the regulator claiming they orchestrated a multibillion-dollar securities fraud.

In April, a South Korean court ruled that LUNA was not a security under the country’s Capital Markets Act.

On April 25, Terraform Labs co-founder Hyun-seong Shin and nine individuals associated with the firm were indicted in South Korea.

They were reportedly indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and embezzlement and referred to trial following almost a year of investigation.

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European Union pushes forward with first AI framework: Law Decoded, April 24–May 1

High-risk tools will not be banned entirely, though they will be subjected to stricter transparency procedures.

Legislators in the European Union have pushed forward with a draft of a new bill designed to keep artificial intelligence technology in check. According to the bill, the high-risk tools will not be banned entirely, though they will be subjected to stricter transparency procedures. In particular, generative AI tools, including ChatGPT and Midjourney, will be obliged to disclose any use of copyrighted materials in AI training.

The AI developers came under intense scrutiny in Europe recently, with Italy being the first Western nation to temporarily ban ChatGPT. Last week regulators in Germany followed by demanding answers from OpenAI concerning the company’s intentions and ability to comply with the strict data privacy laws enshrined in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). Marit Hansen, the commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, told AFP reporters that regulators in Germany “want to know if a data protection impact assessment has been carried out and if the data protection risks are under control.”

Europe’s data watchdog Wojciech Wiewiórowski predicts a sour predicament for United States-based AI companies currently being investigated for alleged GDPR violations. According to Wiewiórowski, OpenAI now finds itself between a European rock and a U.S. hard place, legally speaking. As regulators in the EU look to crack down, U.S. lawmakers could be eyeing European developments as a possible local template.

Meanwhile, Mira Murati, the chief technology officer at OpenAI, believes government regulators should be “very involved” in developing safety standards for deploying advanced AI models such as ChatGPT. However, she doesn’t see a proposed six-month pause on development as the right way to go.

LUNA is not a security, Korean court rules

A South Korean district court has dismissed charges of security violations against former Terraform Labs CEO and co-founder Hyun-seong Shin. The court deemed Terra (LUNA) — the native token of the Terra ecosystem — as non-security under the country’s Capital Markets Act. Other courts had previously used cautious language, suggesting “there is room for dispute in terms of the law” and “it is questionable whether the Capital Market Act can be applied.”

Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, has asked for the dismissal of charges against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kwon argues the SEC’s claims are invalid, pushing back against the agency’s position that tokens, including Mirror Protocol (MIR), Luna Classic (LUNC) and TerraUSD Classic (USTC), are securities. Additionally, Kwon’s counsel says the agency lacked the proper jurisdiction to bring charges against Kwon and Terraform Labs because Terra’s tokens and projects were “aimed at the world” and did not specifically target U.S. investors.

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Apple’s outside payments ban ruled unlawful

A California court ruled Apple violated state competition laws by barring app developers from using alternative in-app payment methods apart from its own, which includes a 30% commission. The U.S. Court of Appeals made the April 24 ruling for the ninth circuit in the case of Apple vs. Epic Games — the creator of the video game Fortnite. The court upheld a lower court’s decision from 2021 and said Apple’s anti-steering provision harmed Epic. The decision may clear the path for cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) projects to add more functionality to their iOS apps. 

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Kraken asks San Francisco court to intervene against IRS demands

Crypto exchange Kraken is fighting the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its demands to present critical exchange user information to a court. The exchange deemed the IRS’s demand for customer information as an “unjustified treasure hunt.” Kraken’s pushback against the IRS comes in reaction to the agency’s February summons demanding additional user information to identify Kraken accounts with at least $20,000 of cryptocurrency trading in any single year between 2016 and 2020.

In its request, the company cited Coinbase’s case from 2017 and said that the tax agency has gone far beyond the rules set by U.S. district judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. In the Coinbase case, the agency scaled back its initial demand after Coinbase’s continuous refusal.

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Terraform Labs co-founder and nine others indicted in South Korea

The indictment of 10 individuals associated with Terraform Labs, including co-founder Hyun-seong Shin, comes after 11 months of investigation into the collapse of Terra.

The financial crimes unit at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office reportedly indicted Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-seong and nine other individuals for the collapse of the Terra stablecoin ecosystem. 

The 10 individuals were reportedly indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and embezzlement and referred to trial after 11 months of investigation. The prosecutor’s office suspected that the individuals involved in the collapse amassed illicit profits of nearly  $350 million (460 billion won), reported KBS World, a Korean daily.

Shin is accused of misleading investors and falsely advertising the product to cause significant losses despite knowing that the project was unfeasible. Prosecutors have also seized the assets of the indicted individuals and estimated them to be worth a total of $180 million (246.8 billion won).

The prosecutor’s indictment comes just days after a district court in Seoul declared that the Luna (LUNA) token was not a security and doesn’t fall under the purview of the Capital Markets Act. The court had earlier refused the prosecution's ten demands of charging Shin for the violation of security law.

Related: Why did Terra LUNA and UST crash? | Find out on The Market Report

The latest indictment of Shin and nine other executives comes just a month after former CEO Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro. Prosecutors in Montenegro indicted Kwon on charges of document forgery. Kwon is also facing multiple charges of security fraud from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Terra was one of the budding crypto ecosystems that popularized the concept of algorithmic stablecoins. However, in May 2022 the native stablecoin, TerraClassicUSD (USTC), de-pegged from its dollar value and the $40 billion ecosystem came crashing down.

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South Korean Court Rules Terra Crypto Asset LUNC Is Not a Security

South Korean Court Rules Terra Crypto Asset LUNC Is Not a SecurityAmidst the allegations against Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, a recent report by the Korean Sunday News has revealed that the Seoul Southern District Court has ruled in favor of LUNA, now renamed LUNC, by stating that it is not a financial investment product. Despite the recent enforcement action by the U.S. Securities […]

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LUNA token is not a security, rules S.Korean court in Terra co-founder case

The court in its ruling noted that It is difficult to see Luna coin as a financial investment product regulated by the Capital Markets Act.

A South Korean district court has dismissed charges of security violations against former Terraform Labs CEO and co-founder Hyun-seong Shin. The court deemed LUNA (LUNA) (the native token of the LUNA ecosystem) as non-security under Korea’s Capital Markets Act.

The southern district court in Seoul dismissed the prosecution's appeal for confiscating Shin’s properties and his arrest based on securities law violations. The prosecution argued that Luna's fraudulent transactions breached Capital Market Act in addition to crimes involving property (fraud), making property confiscation a possibility, reported a local daily.

A google translated version of the court’s observation read:

"It is difficult to see Luna Coin as a financial investment product regulated by the Capital Markets Act."

The court while rejecting the prosecution’s request for confiscation of the accused’s properties noted that it is difficult to see that the property subject to the claim is a “property acquired by a crime or an asset derived from it."

The latest ruling is more notable because it states categorically that Luna is not a security. Other courts have previously used cautious language like "there is room for dispute in terms of the law" and "it is questionable whether the Capital Market Act can be applied."

The lawyer representing the former CEO Shin said that the court rejected the prosecution's requests for an arrest warrant against former CEO Shin and individuals associated with this case. He added that Luna cannot easily be considered an investment product based on the court ruling.

Related: Do Kwon lawyers received $7 million before Terra collapse: Report

The latest court ruling makes the Terra-LUNA saga a case of fraud and breach of trust rather than a violation of the Capital Markets Act. However, the prosecution is still focusing on the securities aspect of the native token and has also appealed to the Supreme Court against the verdict of the lower district court.

The judgement by the Korean district court is in contrast to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission which has charged Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon for violation of securities law. However, Kwon’s lawyers have dismissed SEC’s securities fraud allegations.

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Do Kwon lawyers reportedly dismiss SEC’s securities fraud allegation

Kwon's lawyers claimed that the SEC failed to prove the alleged defrauding of US investors in connection with Terra’s $40 billion collapse of TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA).

The lawyers representing Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon reportedly argued in court against the allegations pressed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The federal agency had sued Kwon for allegedly defrauding US investors by illegally offering unregistered securities.

On April 21, Do Kwon’s lawyers asked the judge to dismiss the SEC lawsuit claiming that the regulator’s acquisitions were unfounded. While requesting to dismiss the lawsuit, Kwon’s lawyers asserted that US law prohibits regulators “from using federal securities law to assert jurisdiction over the digital assets in this case,” reported Bloomberg.

In addition, the lawyers claimed that the SEC failed to prove that Kwon had defrauded US investors in connection with Terra’s $40 billion collapse of the TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA) cryptocurrencies. According to the lawyers, the stablecoin at issue is a currency, not a security.

The legal proceedings began when Do Kwon was arrested in Podgorica airport, Montenegro on March 23, while attempting to fly to Dubai using fake documents. Following his arrest, both South Korean and American authorities requested the entrepreneur’s extradition.

At the time of writing, it remains unclear as to which country, if any, would be the most likely to be granted the extradition of Kwon.

Related: Do Kwon lawyers received $7 million before Terra collapse: Report

The Seoul Southern District Court recently denied an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-Seong.

While prosecutors saw Kwon’s arrest as an opportunity to pin down Shin, the court denied the request while citing unconfirmed allegations and the unlikeliness of Shin being a flight risk or destroying evidence.

“In the case when we receive several extradition requests, I would like to say that determining to which state they will be extradited is based on several factors like the severity of the committed criminal offense, the location and time when the criminal offense has been committed, the order in which we have received the request for extradition and several other factors,” said Montenegrin Justice Minister Marko Kovač through an interpreter.

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