KEY POINTS
- Authorities have frozen real estate and other assets of people believed to have benefited from Terraform Labs
- Prosecutors also claimed that executives at Terraform Labs made over $300 million from the failed project
- The U.S. and S. Korea have requested Do Kwon’s extradition to let him face criminal charges
Do Kwon, the disgraced CEO and founder of the controversial blockchain company Terraform Labs (TFL), may have outsmarted authorities since attempts of South Korean prosecutors to freeze his assets in the country have been in vain because he already converted all of it to Bitcoin prior to his arrest in Montenegro.
South Korean prosecutors’ aggressive attempt to hold people connected to the epic collapse of Terra in May 2022 amped up following Kwon’s arrest.
Authorities in the country claimed that executives at Terraform Labs made more than $300 million from the failed project, which includes Kwon and TFL co-founder Daniel Shin’s collective 414.5 billion won or approximately $314.2 million alleged part of the loot, with the CEO reportedly holding around 91.4 billion won or approximately $69 million of the funds.
Aside from that, authorities have frozen real estate and other assets of people believed to have benefited from the blockchain firm, including those belonging to Shin.
Interestingly, a recent report from a local news outlet claimed that despite authorities’ efforts to freeze assets belonging to the embattled Terraform Labs’ CEO, they were not able to do so since it turned out Kwon reportedly converted all of his assets in South Korea into Bitcoin.
Moreover, the crypto executive moved the crypto stack from the country to an exchange outside South Korea, the report said.
“It has been found that there is very little property formed and owned by CEO Kwon in the country,” said an unnamed prosecutor.
Prosecutors also confirmed that they have already reached out to the exchange where Kwon moved the funds and have requested the platform to freeze the assets in question.
South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September 2022 after the so-called algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and the token LUNA crashed and wiped billions worth of investment.
Authorities also coordinated with Interpol and were allegedly able to put Kwon’s name on the global police agency’s red notice list.
Kwon, over the past months, had been claiming that he made zero efforts to flee from authorities but declined to reveal his whereabouts, noting that it was for his safety and protection. He was cited in the Balkans in December and was eventually arrested at the Podgorica Airport in Montenegro while attempting to leave the country for Dubai using an alleged fake Costa Rican passport.
The former crypto fugitive is currently detained in Montenegro, waiting as authorities investigate his alleged use of fake travel documents.
Both the United States and South Korea have already requested Kwon’s extradition to let him face criminal charges filed against him in both countries.
