Do Kwon, founder of the failed Terra Luna crypto ecosystem, pleaded not guilty to fraud charges following his extradition to the United States on December 31, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Kwon’s Terraform Labs developed the luna cryptocurrency and the terraUSD algorithmic stablecoin, which crashed in 2022 with an estimated loss of $40 billion. Kwon faces charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors allege that Kwon misled investors in 2021 about the algorithm that was designed to maintain the $1 value of the terraUSD stablecoin, according to Thursday’s indictment.
Judge Robert W. Lehrburger of the Southern District of New York ordered Kwon detained before returning to court on January 8.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 on passport forgery charges and has been fighting extradition to the United States for more than a year.
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