$LUNC 🌙 Do Kwon retracts the declaration of innocence he made in December and pleads guilty to his fraud with Terra and LUNA. The story of Do Kwon, former CEO of Terraform Labs, is still making headlines, but this time with a more definitive sentence. A federal judge in New York has imposed 15 years in prison for fraud.
A fraud that left multi-million dollar losses and thousands of victims worldwide. From institutions to retailers. Millions were evaporated in a matter of hours, and with them, countless families were devastated. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer explained that he had no choice but to sentence him to so many years because the case was "an epic and generational fraud." He also ordered Kwon to return over 19 million dollars obtained illegally. The severity of the facts, the global reach of the scam, and the defendant's attempt to flee weighed significantly in the sentencing. Kwon spent 18 months moving between Serbia and Montenegro with false passports before being arrested while trying to travel to Dubai.
Kwon described Terra as "the oldest and most used algorithmic stablecoin in the world," a project that managed to attract around 280,000 investors, including large U.S. venture capital firms specializing in cryptocurrencies.
At 33 years old, Kwon faces nine federal charges for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. He is accused of misleading investors in 2021 about TerraUSD. Terra was one of the leading cryptocurrency networks, and its algorithmic stablecoin model was considered innovative until its collapse exposed its serious flaws, leading many people to lose their savings.
