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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul, Korea – Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs and the creator of the stablecoin TerraUSD (Terra), is set to change his plea and admit guilt to fraud-related charges in a U.S. criminal trial.
According to Reuters, Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. Southern District Court of New York announced on the 12th (local time) that Kwon plans to plead guilty to two charges: fraud and wire fraud, during his ongoing trial.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023, and shortly after, the U.S. Southern District Attorney's Office charged him with eight offenses, including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and conspiracy to manipulate market prices. Later, after Kwon's extradition from Montenegro, additional charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering were added.
If convicted on all charges, Kwon could face up to 130 years in prison.
Kwon, who was extradited to the U.S., had previously appeared at a pretrial hearing in early January, where he had denied all criminal charges.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
