‘Terra’ Kwon Do-hyung to stand trial at the U.S. Southern District Court of New York
Agreed to plead guilty and reduce maximum sentence
Total guilty plea sentence is 25 years…to be sentenced up to 12 years
Possibility of being sent back to Korea after serving half the sentence in the U.S.
[Anchor]
Kwon Do-hyung, the founder of Terra Form Labs, accused of deceiving over a million investors in relation to the cryptocurrency Terra USD, has agreed to plead guilty and receive a maximum sentence of 12 years.
There is also a possibility of being sent back to Korea after serving a certain period of the sentence in the U.S.
Reporting from New York is Correspondent Lee Seung-yoon.
[Reporter]
Kwon Do-hyung, founder of Terra Form Labs, who is on trial for fraud related to the issuance of the stablecoin ‘Terra USD’ at the U.S. Southern District Court of New York,
has changed his stance from claiming innocence to pleading guilty and agreed to significantly reduce his maximum sentence.
As part of the plea bargain to adjust his sentence, U.S. judicial authorities have decided to confiscate approximately 26.3 billion won from Kwon and some other assets.
The combined maximum sentence for the charges Kwon has pleaded guilty to—fraud conspiracy and wire fraud—is 25 years, but he is expected to be sentenced to up to 12 years.
The U.S. government has agreed not to oppose if Kwon requests to serve half of his sentence in Korea.
Apart from the criminal trial in the U.S., Kwon is also under investigation in Korea for violations of the Capital Markets Act.
Previously, Kwon and Terra Form Labs agreed to pay a recovery amount and fines of 6.2 trillion won in a civil lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Terra Form Labs had claimed that the stablecoin Terra was designed to be pegged to 1 U.S. dollar through a protocol called the ‘Terra Protocol.’
[Kwon Do-hyung / Former CEO of Terraform Labs (2021): I am Kwon Do-hyung, the founder of Terra. You can earn a 20% dividend yield that cannot be achieved with stocks like Tesla or Apple.]
However, allegations surfaced that the price of Terra was artificially inflated, causing the peg to the dollar to break and resulting in damages amounting to 58 trillion won to over a million people.
In court, Kwon stated, “I conspired with others to commit fraud and deceive cryptocurrency buyers,” and expressed his desire to apologize.
The sentencing hearing for Kwon, who admitted guilt after a tough legal battle with the Southern District of New York prosecutors, often dubbed the “grim reaper of Wall Street,” is scheduled for December 11th.
This is Lee Seung-yoon from YTN in New York.
Filming: Choi Go-eun
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