Terra Founder Do Kwon’s Crypto Stash Under Threat as S Korean Prosecutors Make Move

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 2 min read
The flags of South Korea and Switzerland.
Source: irishmaster/Adobe

South Korean prosecution officials want to freeze crypto holdings and cash belonging to the Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, and have asked a court to help them freeze funds located in Switzerland and elsewhere.

Per the newspaper The Joongang, prosecutors are “proceeding with the process of tying up the domestic and foreign assets” belonging to Kwon.

Kwon is currently being detained in Montenegro.

A spokesperson from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office told media representatives that the office was “waiting for a court decision on the freezing of Kwon’s domestic and foreign assets.”

Kwon is thought to have transferred much of his holdings to exchange wallets.

United States officials think that Kwon cashed out some $100 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) via a bank in Switzerland during his 11-month flight from law enforcers.

Kwon is wanted on fraud charges in South Korea and the USA, as well as Singapore.

A chart showing Terra Classic (LUNC) prices on 12/04/2023.
Terra Classic (LUNC) prices on 12/04/2023. (Source: CoinMarketCap)

Montenegro officials also want to charge him with entering the country illegally.

They have accused him of traveling with forged documents.

How Much Crypto Does Terra’s Do Kwon Have?

South Korean prosecution officials said they were still “identifying the exact size and nature” of Kwon’s assets.

But the prosecution asked the court to make a pre-indictment freezing order.

Officials claimed that this would help “prevent” Kwon or his associates “from disposing of the property.”

They claimed they were “also tracking assets that are believed to have been stolen by Kwon.”

They think these assets were processed though “foreign cryptocurrency exchanges and Swiss bank accounts.”

Earlier this month, South Korean officials claimed they had identified $314.2 million worth of “illicit assets” associated with Kwon and his associates.

Prosecutors think Kown converted most of his funds into Bitcoin via overseas crypto exchanges.

The spokesperson added that prosecutors had “already frozen” some funds.

The spokesperson added that prosecutors were “requesting” more freezing orders from “several foreign [crypto] exchanges” and “Swiss savings account operators.”

The prosecution has also frozen coins and other assets belonging to the Terraform co-founder Daniel Shin.

It has requested that overseas exchanges such as Binance freeze Shin’s crypto wallets.

Shin is also the founder of the payments firm Chai Corporation, a former Terraform partner.

Over $127 million worth of assets belonging to seven Terra employees have also been seized.

These assets include crypto, cars, buildings, and plots of land.