The post Terraform’s Do Kwon Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy, Wire Fraud in UST Blow-up appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

NEW YORK — Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and wire fraud Tuesday morning, three years after the dramatic $60 billion collapse of the Terra/Luna stablecoin ecosystem. The 33-year old South Korean national arrived in court in handcuffs and a canary yellow prison jumpsuit, a metal chain around his waist. He admitted that he “knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud and did in fact defraud” purchasers of the TerraUSD stablecoin. Judge Paul Engelmayer, who is overseeing the case, walked the Terra creator through the charges to establish that Kwon was indeed guilty of the allegations laid out in an earlier indictment, which included seven other charges such as securities and commodities fraud. Under the charges in the original indictment, Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 135 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Kwon’s plea agreement with the government slashes his maximum sentence to 25 years — 20 for the wire fraud charge, and five for the fraud conspiracy charge, which the judge can either order to be served consecutively or concurrently. Throughout the hearing, the judge noted that he was not bound by the DOJ’s plea agreement, meaning he could sentence Kwon to a lengthier sentence than the DOJ suggested. Under the terms of the plea agreement, laid out by an assistant U.S. attorney, Kwon agreed to pay a maximum forfeiture of $19,286,774.78 plus interest, forfeit what Engelmeyer described as a “substantial set” of properties and pay restitution. He also agreed not to contest the factual allegations in the indictment. In exchange, the DOJ agreed to recommend a maximum sentence of 12 years. Once he’s served half of his ultimate sentence, the DOJ agreed to support any motion Kwon makes for an international prisoner transfer. Kwon’s attorney said there remain open charges…

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Filed under: News - @ August 13, 2025 5:25 am