NEW YORK – The founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, declared conspiracy to commit wire fraud and fraud on Tuesday morning, three years after the dramatic collapse of $ 60 billion of the Ecosystem of Terra/Luna Stablecoin.
The 33 -year -old South Korean citizen arrived at the court with wives and a Canarian yellow prison monkey, a metal chain around his waist. He admitted that “he participated knowingly in a scheme to disappoint and, in fact, he disappointed” Terrausd buyers Stablecoin.
Judge Paul Engelmayer, who supervises the case, walked the creator of Terra through the charges to establish that Kwon was really guilty of the accusations established in a previous accusation, which included seven other positions, such as values and fraud of basic products. According to the positions in the original accusation, Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 135 years in prison if he is declared guilty for all aspects. Kwon’s guilt agreement with the Government cuts its maximum sentence to 25 years: 20 for the position of cable fraud, and five for the fraud conspiracy charge, which the judge can order that it be delivered consecutively or simultaneously.
Throughout the hearing, the judge said he was not bound by the guilt agreement of the Department of Justice, which means that he could sentence Kwon to a longer sentence than the Department of Justice suggested.
According to the terms of the guilt agreement, established by an assistant prosecutor from the United States, Kwon agreed to pay a maximum loss of $ 19,286,774.78 plus interest, he lost what Engelmeyer described as a “substantial set” of properties and pays restitution. He also agreed not to dispute the factual accusations in the accusation. In return, the Department of Justice agreed to recommend a maximum sentence of 12 years. Once he has completed half of his final sentence, the Department of Justice agreed to support any motion that Kwon does for an international transfer of prisoners.
Kwon’s lawyer said there are charges open against him in South Korea.
In a prepared statement, Kwon said he had worked with others to disappoint UST buyers in South Korea, the Southern District of New York and other places between 2018 and 2022, and that he had used international and interstate cables to do so.
“Between 2018 and 2022 in the Southern District of New York and in other places, I knew that others participated in a scheme to disappoint, and in fact I disappointed, the buyers of the cryptocurrencies issued by my company, Terraform Labs,” Kwon said. “In 2021, I made false and deceptive statements about why [UST] He recovered his plug, “he added, noting that a commercial company had been involved.” What I did was wrong and I want to apologize for my behavior. “
Kwon had repeatedly and publicly animated UST, criticizing the detractors or anyone who questioned the stability of Token.
“Have fun to get poor,” he tweeted a user in X in 2021.
A little more than a dozen people sat in the gallery before the audience, with more than half of that group composed of reporters. Throughout the hearing, the judge asked a series of procedure questions to establish that Kwon was competent to declare himself guilty, briefly running through his medical history and verifying in multiple points that Kwon had read the presentations he agreed and discussed with his legal team.
Kwon will be sentenced on December 11 at 11:00 am in Manhattan. At the time of his sentence, he will have been in the custody of the United States for almost a year.
Kwon has been in the United States since New Year, after a long extradition process with the Government of Montenegro. He and Terraft Labs had already been considered responsible for civil fraud by a jury in a case presented by the United States Stock Exchange and Securities Commission, after the collapse of UST.
UPDATE (August 12, 2025, 16:42 UTC): Add audience details.
