@Jornal de Brasília
South Korean cryptocurrency magnate Do Kwon, accused of being responsible for the collapse of a billion-dollar company three years ago, has pleaded guilty to fraud before a New York judge, according to court documents published on Tuesday. Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs and promoter of two cryptocurrencies that played a crucial role in the collapse, faced nine charges in a formal indictment presented by the prosecution in January 2025, which he initially denied. However, he changed his testimony in a hearing before Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York and will be sentenced on December 11. Kwon, 33, was extradited from Montenegro to the United States last year due to his involvement in a fraud related to the collapse of his company, which wiped out around $40 billion of investors' funds and shook the global cryptocurrency markets. The cryptocurrency magnate was arrested in March 2023 at Podgorica Airport, the capital of Montenegro, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai with a fake Costa Rican passport. Before his arrest in the small Balkan country, he had been on the run for months, after fleeing South Korea and then Singapore, when his company went bankrupt in 2022. Kwon's company, Terraform Labs, created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD, which was marketed as a 'stablecoin', a digital currency whose value is linked to a traditional currency, in this case the US dollar. A Stanford University graduate with experience at Apple and Microsoft, Kwon promoted it successfully as a major innovation in cryptocurrencies. The South Korean media described him as a 'genius'. However, despite billions of dollars in investments, TerraUSD and another cryptocurrency created by Terraform Labs, Luna, entered a downward spiral in May 2022. Experts said Kwon had created a pyramid scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings. Cryptocurrencies have been under increasing scrutiny by regulators following a series of controversies in recent years.
South Korean cryptocurrency magnate Do Kwon, accused of being responsible for the collapse of a billion-dollar company three years ago, has pleaded guilty to fraud before a New York judge, according to court documents published on Tuesday. Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs and promoter of two cryptocurrencies that played a crucial role in the collapse, faced nine charges in a formal indictment presented by the prosecution in January 2025, which he initially denied. However, he changed his testimony in a hearing before Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York and will be sentenced on December 11. Kwon, 33, was extradited from Montenegro to the United States last year due to his involvement in a fraud related to the collapse of his company, which wiped out around $40 billion of investors' funds and shook the global cryptocurrency markets. The cryptocurrency magnate was arrested in March 2023 at Podgorica Airport, the capital of Montenegro, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai with a fake Costa Rican passport. Before his arrest in the small Balkan country, he had been on the run for months, after fleeing South Korea and then Singapore, when his company went bankrupt in 2022. Kwon's company, Terraform Labs, created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD, which was marketed as a 'stablecoin', a digital currency whose value is linked to a traditional currency, in this case the US dollar. A Stanford University graduate with experience at Apple and Microsoft, Kwon promoted it successfully as a major innovation in cryptocurrencies. The South Korean media described him as a 'genius'. However, despite billions of dollars in investments, TerraUSD and another cryptocurrency created by Terraform Labs, Luna, entered a downward spiral in May 2022. Experts said Kwon had created a pyramid scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings. Cryptocurrencies have been under increasing scrutiny by regulators following a series of controversies in recent years.
Jornal de Brasília
Magnata das criptomoedas se declara culpado de fraude nos EUA - Jornal de Brasília
Kwon, fundador da Terraform Lab e promotor de duas criptomoedas que tiveram um papel crucial na falência, enfrentava nove acusações em uma denú...
