Opinion: Do Kwon faces prison time in the United States and South Korea

Co-founder and chief executive of Terraform Labs (TFL) Do Kwon may be sentenced to several prison terms: in the United States and South Korea. This was stated by Dan Sunghan, the South Korean prosecutor leading the investigation, in an interview with Bloomberg.

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In his view, extraditing Kwon to South Korea makes more sense “when it comes to restoring justice or compensating victims.” He noted that local authorities have access to more evidence than their American counterparts, because they conducted most of the investigation the collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

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Sunghan also said that South Korea has already charged a number of Kwon’s associates.

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At the same time, he acknowledged the possibility of a scenario in which the TFL CEO would appear before a court in the United States as well, where he faces more than 40 years in prison.

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“Until the defendant is held accountable for crimes in one of the jurisdictions, he faces multiple cross-border judgments,” the prosecutor explained.

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If the South Korean authorities do not account for all crimes for which Kwon is accused in the United States, the entrepreneur could potentially be sent to the United States for prosecution after serving his sentence in his home country.

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Sunghan expects that Kwon’s sentence will be “the longest ever handed down in South Korea.”

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Authorities have yet to determine the whereabouts of the cold wallet of the TFL CEO, containing 10,000 BTC, but are monitoring the movement of funds from it.

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Earlier, in September 2022, South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon and five other Terraform Labs employees on charges including violations of capital market laws.

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On March 23, Montenegrin police arrested Kwon as he tried to fly from Podgorica airport to Dubai using forged documents. The entrepreneur was recently released under house arrest, with bail set at €400,000 ($436,000).

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In May, South Korea called on Montenegro to extradite Kwon to his homeland. The United States also seeks the extradition of the head of TFL, where he faces charges of fraud from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.