To Kwon (Do Kwon)

Biography

2025: Sentence - 15 years in prison for fraud that led to $40bn investor losses

On December 10, 2025, in New York, District Judge Paul Engelmeier sentenced Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon. He was convicted of fraud related to the collapse of the Terra crypto project in May 2022. The sentence was 15 years in prison.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which included the TerraUSD stablecoin (UST) and the associated LUNA token, led to investor losses estimated by experts at $40-60 billion. According to CoinDesk, Paul Engelmeier during the meeting described Kwon's behavior as "disgusting," especially during the period of UST detachment from the dollar. At this time, Kwon publicly urged ordinary investors to keep assets, while he and his associates secretly withdrew funds.

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Фото: CNN

Prosecutors requested 12 years in prison for the defendant, lawyers insisted on five years. The judge rejected the defense's arguments, calling her proposed term "completely unthinkable." He stressed that 15 years is the minimum punishment corresponding to the severity of the crime.

The sentencing took into account the scale of the fraud, the large number of victims and Kwon's attempts to escape justice using forged documents. According to the New York Times, Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in 2023 and extradited to the United States. In August 2025, he pleaded guilty to two counts - conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.

CoinDesk also reports that the sentence may be reduced by the 17 months Kwon spent in a Montenegrin prison. After serving half of his appointed term, Kwon has the right to file a transfer petition for further imprisonment in South Korea, where charges have also been brought against him. In addition to imprisonment, the court may order him to confiscate assets worth $19 million.^[1]

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