South Korea seizes $104M from Terra's co-founder on unjust earnings.
Zach Anderson Nov 18, 2022 23:06
South Korean authorities froze approximately $104.4 million (140 billion won) from co-founder Shin Hyun-seong based on suspicion of unfair profits. The decision to freeze Shin's asset worth over $104 million was approved by the Seoul Southern District Court. The claim related to Shin's involvement in selling pre-issued Terra tokens to unwary investors.
South Korean authorities are continuing their efforts to bring closure to the victims of the year's first crypto crash, which involved Terraform Labs. While the crypto exchange FTX has taken the spotlight away from other collapsed ecosystems, South Korean authorities are still working to help Terraform Labs' victims.
Nearly six months after the Terra (LUNA) blockchain was formally shut down, officials in South Korea froze around $104.4 million (140 billion won) belonging to co-founder Shin Hyun-seong on the grounds that he may have made unlawful gains.
The assets of Shin, which are estimated to be worth more than 104 million dollars, have been placed under a temporary freeze after the Seoul Southern District Court gave its approval to a request made by the prosecutors.
The allegation concerned Shin's alleged participation in the sale of pre-issued Terra tokens to unsuspecting investors.
According to reports from a local news outlet, the district court has placed a hold on the allegedly stolen monies until additional investigations can be conducted. This decision was made on the basis of the suspicion of benefitting from unauthorised LUNA sales.
Reports that Shin Hyun-seong, CEO of Luna, sold the company at a high point and realised gains or that he generated riches via other illicit techniques are not accurate, according to the company. The counsel for Shin was originally cited by Cointelegraph.
The preindictment preservation of the funds is a method for stopping criminals from getting rid of stolen money and forcing investors to suffer further financial harm or losses.
Shin is currently the subject of an investigation by the authorities in South Korea on two charges: making unfair profits from the issuance of in-house tokens LUNA and TerraUSD (UST); and leaking customer transaction information of Chai, a Korean payment app linked to Terra, to Terraform Labs. The first charge relates to the alleged making of profits from the issuance of in-house tokens LUNA and TerraUSD (UST).
As part of their investigation into the dissolution of the company, the prosecutors in South Korea issued a summons to the alleged co-founder on November 14 requesting that he appear in court.
The prosecution levelled the charge of price manipulation against Do Kwon, one of the co-founders of Terra, during the first week of November.
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