According to Cointelegraph, Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, is set to be sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to two felony counts in the United States. A U.S. federal judge is inquiring about Kwon's legal issues in South Korea and Montenegro, where he has faced separate charges. In a recent filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Paul Engelmayer sought information from Kwon's legal team and U.S. prosecutors regarding the potential sentences Kwon could face in South Korea. Kwon is expected to be extradited to South Korea after serving any prison time in the U.S. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud in August, with sentencing scheduled for Thursday.
Judge Engelmayer also questioned whether Kwon's time in custody in Montenegro, where he served a four-month sentence for using falsified travel documents, would count towards any U.S. sentence. Kwon had resisted extradition to the U.S. for over a year. The judge's inquiries suggest concerns about the possibility of Kwon being released early if extradited to South Korea to serve the remainder of his sentence. Kwon was a significant figure in the crypto industry in 2022 before the Terra ecosystem's collapse, which contributed to a market downturn and substantial investor losses. Defense attorneys have requested a maximum five-year sentence in the U.S., while prosecutors are advocating for at least 12 years. The U.S. government's sentencing recommendation highlighted the extensive losses caused by Kwon, surpassing those attributed to other notable figures in the crypto industry.
Kwon's legal team indicated that even if sentenced to time served by Judge Engelmayer, Kwon would likely face pretrial detention in South Korea, where he could be sentenced to up to 40 years. Thursday's hearing may signal the conclusion of Kwon's involvement in the 2022 Terraform collapse. His location during the crypto market downturn remained unknown until his arrest in Montenegro, where he awaited extradition to the U.S. South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in 2022 but have not detained him since the Terra ecosystem's collapse. They have sought his extradition from Montenegro alongside the U.S., pursuing related cases against other individuals connected to Terraform.
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