On August 13, according to Reuters, South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon admitted two fraud charges in the New York federal court on Tuesday. The 33-year-old co-founder of Terraform Labs developed TerraUSD and LUNA tokens that collapsed in 2022, causing approximately $40 billion in losses.
At a hearing presided over by federal judge Paul Engelmeyer in the Southern District of New York, Do Kwon pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and wire fraud. In January, he had previously pleaded not guilty to nine charges including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodity fraud, and money laundering.
During the trial, Do Kwon apologized in court: "I concealed the truth about the trading company's intervention in restoring the peg and made false statements. My actions were wrong."
Although the maximum legal sentence is 25 years, the prosecution agreed to recommend no more than 12 years in prison if he pleads guilty and shows remorse. The presiding judge will issue the sentencing decision on December 11. This case is one of the major cases during the cryptocurrency winter of 2022, when multiple digital asset companies went bankrupt.
