- An arrest warrant has been sought for Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin by South Korean investigators.
- Terra’s crash in May contributed to worsening market conditions that ravaged the crypto sphere.
- Shin has denied his involvement in Terra’s collapse and continued to debunk his relationship with it.
- The co-founder has been facing prosecution for the last few weeks.
- Shin allegedly amassed illicit profits with LUNA worth over US$104 million.
- Using the personal information of Chai Corporation customers, he allegedly promoted Terra’s cryptocurrencies.
- The prosecutors succeeded in freezing Shin’s assets worth about US$104 million in mid-November.
The South Korean investigators have approached the court to seek an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin, along with seven other engineers and investors of the firm, following suspicion of gaining illegal profits before the massive collapse of the Terra ecosystem.
Recall that the Terra co-founder and Shin’s colleague, Do Kwon, are currently facing prosecution over the project’s collapse. It is worth noting that the crash of the Terra ecosystem manifested last May contributed to the worsening market conditions ravaging the crypto sphere. Investors lost millions of assets to the crash, prompting interventions from numerous global investigators.
However, amidst the ongoing investigation into the issue, Shin has continued to debunk his relationship with the Terra project and denied his involvement in the its collapse.
"I left two years before the collapse of Terra and Luna and have nothing to do with the collapse," the co-founder insisted.
The Ongoing Probe of Shin in South Korea
Last July, investigators stormed the residence of Daniel Shin over the indictment of the co-founder in the Terra collapse, and later this month, they detained him. The co-founder has been facing prosecution since then.
According to the investigators, Daniel Shin allegedly amassed illicit profits worth over US$104 million with the LUNA project. Moreover, he reportedly amassed the profits even before the official issuance of the crypto without any prior disclosure to investors.
Further, the local prosecutors also accused the Terra co-founder of a breach of duty. He allegedly used the customers’ personal information at Chai Corporation, the payments tech company he founded, to promote Terra’s cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, in mid-November, the prosecutors secured the approval of the court to freeze about US$104 million in assets belonging to Shin. According to South Korea’s Seoul Southern District Court, Shin illegally amassed those assets through LUNA cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, in the latest development, South Korean investigators have approached the court to seek an arrest warrant for the embattled co-founder, Do Kwon. Currently, the investigators are still on the trail of Kwon. However, the court is scheduled to hear the application on Friday, with Shin in detention.
On the Flipside
- South Korea is not the only country investigating the collapse of Terra. Recently, the U.S. District Court in Northern California also commenced a class-action lawsuit against Do Kwon and Terraform.
Why You Should Care
As crypto crimes ravage the space, lawmakers are displaying a strict stance to bring down the perpetrators. A string of stern actions is on its way against Sam Bankman Fried in light of the recent FTX debacle. This latest action by the South Korean authorities is another example of their hardline approach towards offenders in the cryptocurrency industry.
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