Do Kwon, the co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs, has reportedly had his personal assets frozen as part of the ongoing criminal case against him. According to a report from local news outlet Hankyung, over 233.3 billion Korean won ($176 million) worth of assets belonging to Kwon have been affected.
The frozen assets include a luxury apartment complex called Galleria Foret located in Seoul, an officetel, a type of office-residential building popular in South Korea, as well as several imported cars. Additionally, Kwon’s financial assets, including securities, bank deposits, and cryptocurrency held in personal accounts on virtual currency exchanges, have also been subjected to the freezing order.
The prohibition on asset sales and dispositions is in line with South Korean law, which allows authorities to prevent suspects from disposing of assets acquired through alleged criminal activities until a conviction is confirmed. Kwon was arrested in March 2023 in Montenegro and charged with falsifying documents. Both South Korean and U.S. authorities are currently pursuing his extradition.
The Terra Luna ecosystem, created by Kwon and Terraform Labs, faced significant challenges in May 2022 when its native stablecoin, TerraUSD (USTC), experienced a de-pegging event. This led to a sharp decline in the ecosystem’s market value, wiping out an estimated $40 billion. South Korean prosecutors have accused Kwon of converting illicit funds from the Terra Luna ecosystem into Bitcoin, identifying $314.2 million in allegedly illicit assets. In the United States, Kwon faces eight counts of fraud related to his promotion of the Terra Luna blockchain.
