{"id":57155,"date":"2025-12-12T09:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/do-kwon-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison-over-40-billion-terra-crypto-collapse\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T02:16:14","slug":"do-kwon-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison-over-40-billion-terra-crypto-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/do-kwon-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison-over-40-billion-terra-crypto-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Kwon Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison Over $40 Billion Terra Crypto Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h4 color=\"#333\">In brief<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison.<\/li>\n<li>He pleaded guilty to a series of fraud charges in August.<\/li>\n<li>Kwon expressed remorse in the courtroom, wearing a yellow jumpsuit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday, following the $40 billion collapse of UST and Luna more than three years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Before the sentence was handed down, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer described that figure as \u201ceye-popping,\u201d even for the Southern District of New York, where some of the biggest financial crimes in history have been prosecuted, per <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/innercitypress\/status\/1999150597837087172?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\"><i><span>Inner City Press<\/span><\/i><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The 33-year-old South Korean native, who <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/do-kwon-pleads-guilty-fraud\" target=\"_blank\"><span>pleaded guilty<\/span><\/a><span> to a series of fraud charges in August, committed an \u201cunusually serious\u201d fraud, Judge Engelmayer said, adding: \u201cYou chose to lie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Judge Engelmayer described now-infamous assurances that Kwon made on X, formerly Twitter, including \u201cDeploying more capital &#8211; steady lads,\u201d as ultimately devastating for investors. He also highlighted how Kwon said he doesn\u2019t \u201cdebate the poor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At one point, Judge Engelmayer compared Kwon to the leader of a cult, who traded on victims\u2019 trust. Thursday\u2019s punishment was delivered in a Manhattan courtroom, where victims first spoke about how the collapse of Terra&#8217;s ecosystem impacted their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A man from Ukraine <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/innercitypress\/status\/1999179807486095771?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener\"><span>described<\/span><\/a><span> to Judge Engelmayer, for example, how he lost nearly $200,000 as Kwon\u2019s algorithmic stablecoin buckled in May 2022. Kwon\u2019s affirmations gave him confidence that 17 years worth of money saved was \u201csafe,\u201d the man added, despite the risk ultimately came with 20% yields offered by Terra\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/98482\/we-need-to-talk-about-terras-anchor\" target=\"_blank\"><span>Anchor Protocol<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Judge Engelmayer: You have been bitten by the crypto bug and I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s changed. You must be incapacitated. If not for your guilty plea, my sentence would have been higher. You pled early. Your letter is beautifully written, for your daughter one day<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Inner City Press (@innercitypress) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/innercitypress\/status\/1999231719946461695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">December 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Federal prosecutors had asked Judge Engelmayer to give Kwon a 12-year sentence, after arguing in court that Kwon constructed a financial world built on lies. He used manipulative and deceptive techniques to mislead investors about elements of Terraform\u2019s business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kwon\u2019s attorneys requested that his time be limited to five years behind bars. As part of his plea deal, Kwon is set to forfeit $19 million, as well as some of his properties.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kwon, sporting a yellow jumpsuit, expressed remorse to Judge Engelmayer, echoing elements of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/351947\/disgraced-terraform-labs-founder-do-kwon-faces-sentencing-today\" target=\"_blank\"><span>a previous letter<\/span><\/a><span> in which he claimed responsibility for causing widespread pain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe blame should be pointed at me,\u201d Kwon said. \u201cI failed to operate the system in the right way. I want to prevent other crypto founders from standing where I am right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the same time, Kwon said it had been three years since he\u2019d seen his family, while expressing a desire to be able to serve time in his home country. Prosecutors have agreed to let Kwon serve the second half of his sentence in South Korea.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Before the sentence was handed down, Judge Engelmayer expressed frustration with the prosecutors for submitting a batch of letters from the Terra\u2019s community last night. The flurry of feedback caused him to cancel \u201ca celebratory judicial function,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The failure of Terra\u2019s ecosystem was an industry-shaking moment in 2022, which prompted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/117420\/story-of-the-year-crypto-contagion-terra-ftx\" target=\"_blank\"><span>a series of blowups<\/span><\/a><span> that culminated in FTX\u2019s bankruptcy months later. Instead of being backed by liquid assets, Terra\u2019s UST stablecoin relied on trading incentives to maintain a $1 peg\u2014but it ultimately failed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Last April, Terraform Labs and Kwon were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/225047\/do-kwon-liable-civil-fraud-sec-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\"><span>found<\/span><\/a><span> liable on civil fraud charges. Months later, they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/235070\/terraform-labs-and-do-kwon-to-pay-4-5-billion-to-settle-sec-fraud-case\" target=\"_blank\"><span>agreed<\/span><\/a><span> to pay $4.5 billion as part of a massive settlement agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The next day, the company <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/235183\/terraform-labs-dissolve-4-5-billion-sec-settlement\" target=\"_blank\"><span>moved<\/span><\/a><span> to dissolve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the time, Kwon sat in custody in the Balkan country of Montenegro, amid a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/242875\/terra-founder-do-kwon-extradited-south-korea\" target=\"_blank\"><span>months-long extradition fight<\/span><\/a><span>. A year before, he <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/decrypt.co\/124392\/do-kown-arrested-montenegro-says-countrys-minister-of-interior\" target=\"_blank\"><span>was arrested<\/span><\/a><span> while trying to travel with a forged passport.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Daily Debrief Newsletter<\/h3>\n<p>Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In brief Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to a series of fraud charges [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":57156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tien-dien-tu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hbbgroup.net\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}