Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, asked a US judge for a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for his role within the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which wasted about $40 billion from crypto markets in 2022.
According to Bloomberg, Kwon argued in a press release of claim filed Wednesday that an extended sentence was excessive given the sentence he has already served and the sentences he has agreed to simply accept.
Kwon pleaded guilty in August to 2 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud after being extradited from Montenegro, where he was imprisoned. His lawyers said he had spent nearly three years behind bars, “greater than half of which in brutal conditions in Montenegro,” and that he had already paid a heavy personal and financial price.
As a part of the plea agreement, U.S. prosecutors agreed not to hunt a sentence of greater than 12 years. However, the defense described anything beyond five years as “far longer than mandatory” to attain justice. Kwon also agreed to forfeit greater than $19 million and a number of other properties as a part of the deal.
Kwon faces a jail sentence in South Korea
After the US conviction, Kwon's legal troubles is not going to be over. Prosecutors in South Korea are pursuing a separate case related to the identical events and are looking for as much as 40 years in prison.
Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11 in Manhattan by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer. Prosecutors are expected to submit their very own advice in the approaching days.
After the Terra crash in 2022, Kwon's whereabouts were largely unknown until Montenegrin authorities arrested him for using fake travel documents. He served 4 months in prison there before U.S. and South Korean officials filed a request for his extradition to Montenegro, which was complicated by challenges within the country's lower courts.
SBF appeals conviction
Kwon isn't the one cryptocurrency-related one who didn't get away with it. In 2024, a federal judge sentenced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison. Earlier this month, the case landed in court again when the previous CEO challenged his conviction and sentence in a U.S. appeals court, where his lawyers argued he was denied a good trial.
The defense said the jury never heard evidence that FTX remained solvent and claimed that an early narrative that customer funds had been stolen shaped the case before Bankman-Fried could adequately defend himself.
