Do Kwon says 5-year US sentence is enough, faces 40 years in South Korea

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has requested a US choose to restrict his jail sentence to 5 years for his function within the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which could have worn out round $40 billion from the crypto markets by 2022.

In a court docket submitting on Wednesday, Kwon argued {that a} long run could be extreme given the sentence he has already served and the sentences he has accepted, in response to Bloomberg.

Kwon pleaded responsible in August to 2 counts of fraud and conspiracy to defraud after being extradited from Montenegro, the place he had been detained. His attorneys stated he has spent practically three years behind bars, “greater than half of them underneath brutal situations in Montenegro,” and has already paid a excessive private and monetary worth.

Below the plea settlement, U.S. prosecutors agreed to not search a sentence longer than 12 years. Nonetheless, the protection urged the court docket to go additional, calling the whole lot after 5 years “far better than mandatory” to realize justice. Kwon additionally agreed to forfeit greater than $19 million, together with numerous properties, as a part of the deal.

Kwon faces a jail sentence in South Korea

After the American conviction, Kwon’s authorized issues won’t be over. Prosecutors in South Korea are prosecuting a separate case associated to the identical occasions, searching for as much as 40 years in jail there.

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Kwon is predicted to be sentenced on December 11 in Manhattan by U.S. District Decide Paul Engelmayer. Prosecutors are anticipated to submit their very own advice within the coming days.

After the Terra crash in 2022, Kwon’s whereabouts have been largely unknown till Montenegrin authorities arrested him for utilizing cast journey paperwork. He spent 4 months in jail there earlier than each U.S. and South Korean officers requested Montenegro’s extradition, which was sophisticated by disputes within the nation’s decrease courts.

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SBF appeals in opposition to conviction

Kwon is not the one crypto-related determine who is not getting off simple. In 2024, a federal choose sentenced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in jail. Earlier this month, the case returned to court docket when the previous FTX CEO challenged his conviction and sentence in a U.S. appeals court docket, the place his attorneys argued he was denied due course of.

The protection stated the jury by no means heard proof that FTX remained solvent and claims that an early story that buyer cash had been stolen set the stage earlier than Bankman-Fried might correctly defend herself.

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