U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer finally dropped a vonis against Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon.

At a verdict reading held in Manhattan Thursday (11/12), Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the US$40 billion crypto fraud scandal that destroyed the Terra/Luna ecosystem.

The verdict is considered shocking because it is heavier than the US Prosecutor's lawsuit which previously requested only a 12-year prison sentence.

On the other hand, the defense of Kwon’s lawyer team seeking a maximum sentence of 5 years citing the client was only experiencing “arrogance and desperation”, does not seem to have succeeded in softening the judge’s heart.

One of the most interesting points from this vonis is the agreement regarding the detention location. The judge ruled that Kwon will serve half of his sentence in the United States, while the other half will serve in his home country, South Korea.

The mechanism is becoming a rare middle ground, given that Do Kwon is also facing serious charges in South Korea. Under this scheme, both US and South Korean jurisdictions both get the right to prosecute and punish the fallen “Crypto King”.

Earlier, Kwon had pleaded guilty last August to charges of security and commodity fraud conspiracy. He admitted to deceiving investors regarding the stability of the TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin algorithm, which collapsed in 2022. In addition to corporal punishment, Kwon was also required to submit fines of assets valued at 19.3 million US dollars.