S Korean Prosecutors Fail in Effort to Arrest Terraform Co-Founder Shin, Do Kwon Gloats

South Korea Terra

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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October 23, 2023 08:13 EDT

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South Korean prosecutors have suffered a blow in their bid to arrest the masterminds of the Terra ecosystem – after a court turned down a request for the arrest of the Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin. The news was met with much glee from Shin’s fellow co-founder Do Kwon, who celebrated the development on social media.

OBS reported that the arrest warrant request was turned down by Hong Jin-pyo, the Chief Justice in charge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court. Hong was quoted as stating that while the “nature of the crimes” Shin had been accused of was “very serious,” it was “difficult to see the necessity and significance” of issuing an arrest warrant at this time.

The court also turned down a number of requests for the arrest of other early-stage Terra investors, as well as four key network developers. The prosecution had hoped to arrest Shin and the others on fraud-related charges.

Shin, known also by his Korean name Shin Hyun-Seong, is also the former CEO of Chai Corporation, a payments company that has also been raided by prosecutors as part of the probe into whether Terraform sought to defraud its investors.

Groups of investors have also launched civil proceedings against Kwon, Shin, and Terraform.

Do Kwon Delights in Prosecution’s Failure to Obtain Arrest Warrant

Kwon, who says he is “not on the run” from the law – despite having been served with an Interpol Red Notice and an arrest warrant – took to Twitter to toast the prosecution’s apparent failure.

Strike 2 👍 https://t.co/dHNilhT2AI

— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) December 2, 2022

He also retweeted a tweet from a supporter who claimed that Terra “FUD” was “dying,” with “all allegations” now “proven wrong.”

Do you feel it my friends? 👀

The Terra FUD is dying, all allegations have been proven wrong.
Terra regains credibility by the day in the eyes of the public opinion.

Let's rebuild this #DeFi gem and its community to its former glory 🌕$LUNA $LUNC

— P₿ ⚡ (@Crypto_PB) December 3, 2022

But it appears unlikely that prosecutors will let the matter lie. OBS reported that the prosecution was “planning to decide” whether or not it would “re-apply for an arrest warrant after reviewing the court’s reasons for the rejection.”

Shin claims that he left Terraform several years ago and had nothing to do with this year’s crash, which sent shockwaves through the crypto community in early May.