Crypto boss sentenced to 15 years over 'epic, generational scale' fraud that lost over 40 billion dollars

Cryptocurrency Terraform Labs co-founder, Do Kwon, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a district judge in New York. The cryptocurrency boss oversaw the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna in 2022, which the judge described as "fraud on an epic, generational scale."

"In the history of federal prosecutions," US district judge Paul A. Engelmayer said during the sentencing (via CNBC), "there are few frauds that have caused as much harm as you have, Mr. Kwon."

TerraUSD and Luna collapsed in May 2022. TerraUSD was a so-called stablecoin for its intrinsic tie to the value of the US dollar. Intended to always be valued at $1 per coin, the foundations of the stablecoin were complex and shaky. It relied on protocols, a separate counter-token called Luna, and an exchange for burning/minting tokens to maintain the price of TerraUSD at $1. Failed attempts to prop up the system and mislead investors using secret funds eventually led to the collapse of both TerraUSD and Luna, from $1 and $87 on May 5, to $0.2 and $0.00005 on May 13.

"In fact, core Terraform products did not work as Kwon advertised and were manipulated to create the illusion of a functioning and decentralized financial system in order to lure investors," the US attorney's office, Southern District of New York, said of the case.

"Kwon engaged in this deceptive conduct in order to pump up the value of Terraform’s cryptocurrencies, which Kwon and entities he controlled (a) possessed in large amounts and (b) sold to investors in exchange for billions of dollars’ worth of other assets."

At its peak in 2022, TerraUST and Luna exceeded $50 billion in value. Over $40 billion is said to have been lost during the subsequent crash.

Letters by some of the victims were submitted to the court. I've read a few; tales of life investments down the drain and emotional and mental struggle due to the crash.

Kwon fled from South Korea, the company's base of operations, shortly after the crash. He ended up in Montenegro with various warrants out for his arrest. In 2023, he was arrested trying to leave the country on a fake passport to go to Dubai. After a long extradition process, due to a lack of extradition treaty with either South Korea or the United States, Kwon was extradited to the US to face charges.

Kwon pled guilty to two counds of fraud back in August and agreed to forfeit cash and properties said to have been gained through the fraudulent action. Kwon apologised at the time, saying: "What I did was wrong."

"Do Kwon used the technological promise and investment euphoria around cryptocurrency to commit one of the largest frauds in history," US attorney Jay Clayton said at the time.

Kwon's 15-year sentence is longer than the 12 years sought by the prosecution, with the judge presiding over the case deciding that would've been too lenient considering the "epic, generational scale" of the fraud. Kwon also faces charges in South Korea and may be moved to the country later during his sentence.

Kwon's case wraps up another loose end from 2022, which was altogether a very bad year for cryptocurrencies. Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX exchange that later collapsed, was also arrested that same year and found guilty of fraud in 2023.