Terra co-founder Do Kwon’s $177 million assets in Korea under seizure

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, the mastermind behind the Terra-Luna cryptocurrency collapse, has had most of his assets in South Korea frozen, as prosecutors are seeking to bring him home from Montenegro for indictment.

The Seoul Southern District Court recently accepted prosecutors’ request to seize his assets worth 233.3 billion won ($177 million) before official indictment, court officials said on Thursday.

Prosecutors earlier said they needed to seize the cryptocurrency mogul’s assets deemed linked to or obtained through alleged criminal activities to prevent him from disposing of them before a court ruling on his charges.

His assets under seizure include his house in the Galleria Forêt apartment complex in southern Seoul, his rights to a studio flat in Nonhyun-dong, a luxury imported car, securities at brokerage firm Mirae Asset, money deposits at Woori Bank and cryptocurrencies at domestic crypto exchanges.

Some other financial assets owned by Kwon were excluded from the seizure as the court decided against it, citing the possibility of excessive prohibition on his economic activities.

KOREA, US SEEK TO EXTRADITE KWON FROM MONTENEGRO

Kwon created TerraUSD, a so-called algorithmic stablecoin that aimed to maintain a price of $1. Last year, the coin lost its dollar peg, triggering a chain reaction that erased almost $40 billion in value in global digital-currency markets and wiping out many investors.

The Korea-born Stanford University graduate had been living in Singapore but vanished six months ago. In March, he was arrested by authorities in Montenegro and indicted for using fake passports and documents to board a flight to Dubai.

Both the Korean and US authorities are seeking the extradition of Kwon from Montenegro on criminal charges.

Korean prosecutors said he should be extradited to Korea as they have been investigating and collecting pieces of evidence related to the Terra-Luna crisis for longer than the US and are in the best position to bring justice to the victims who lost heavily from their investment in Terra and Luna.

In Korea, he faces charges of violating the country’s capital markets law.

Last month, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Daniel Shin, former chief executive of payment service company Chai Corp. and co-founder of Terraform Labs, and several others without detention on multiple charges including fraud, breach of duty and embezzlement.

The value of Luna, the cryptocurrency linked to stablecoin TerraUSD, became worthless in mid-March 2022, plummeting from a market capitalization of around $37.8 billion the week prior.

Write to Si-On Park at ushire908@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.