Key takeaways:
- The Securities and Exchange Commission was granted permission by a US judge to search Singapore for Terraform Labs and founder Do Kwon-related records.
- Additionally, according to reports, Kwon transferred $7 million to a law firm just prior to Terra’s demise.
Do Kwon, the co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, has been struck with a legal setback after a U.S. judge rejected his attempt to stop the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from acquiring specific information about the company’s operations. After months of evading capture, the co-founder of the infamous venture and company was apprehended in Montenegro earlier this year.
Although Terraform was based in Singapore, it is unclear what documents the SEC is requesting from MAS. In March, Singaporean authorities said that they had opened an investigation into the collapse of the stablecoin.
Records show that last Friday, U.S. District Court for the Southern District Judge Jed Rakoff denied Do Kwon and Terraform’s demand to compel the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to drop its bid for reports held by the Singaporean regulators and the defendants. The SEC had requested documents from the defendants and the Singaporean regulator.
The defendants of Luna Foundation Guard, a cryptocurrency company established only to gather funds for maintaining the UST stablecoin’s $1 peg, provided the papers to Singapore Monetary Authority, which is similar to the U.S. SEC.
Earlier this week, South Korean prosecutors disclosed that Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon paid $7 billion to renowned South Korean legal firm Kim & Chang soon before Terra’s bankruptcy.
There has been a lot of activity surrounding Kwon and Terraform Labs since 2022. Prosecutors in New York have filed allegations of fraud against the co-founder of Terra. Authorities in South Korea, where he is from, are also looking into him. Even while the cases themselves might take some months to resolve, it appears that the rest of 2023 will provide some justice for project victims.
The collapse of the Terra ecosystem was one of the main causes of the crypto industry’s descent into its crypto winter , which saw the prices of Bitcoin and other major altcoins plunge, as well as the bankruptcy of multiple reputable companies, including the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
