Prosecutors Enlist Interpol in Manhunt for Do Kwon, however the Terra Founder Says He’s ‘Not on the Run’

A phone with the Terra logo is shown against a backdrop of a screen showing market numbers.

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon says he’s “not on the run.” South Korean prosecutors say he received’t cooperate.
Photo: T. Schneider (Shutterstock)

Two days after Terraform Labs cofounder and CEO Do Kwon tweeted that he was “not on the run,” South Korean authorities have requested Interpol to find and arrest the manager as a result of he’s allegedly not cooperating with the investigation into the collapse of the corporate’s secure cash, TerraUSD and Luna.

The determination by South Korean prosecutors to loop in Interpol, reported by the Financial Times on Monday, is the newest twist within the disastrous case of Terraform Labs, which in May collapsed and noticed the market cap of its two stablecoins go from greater than $60 billion to almost zero. Investors within the TerraUSD and Luna cash accuse Kwon of working a Ponzi scheme, and South Korean prosecutors are investigating him for purported fraud and tax evasion.

Specifically, South Korean authorities requested Interpol to problem a so-called “red notice,” which is a request to regulation enforcement worldwide to “locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”

Monday’s pink discover in opposition to Kwon got here after a humorous but infuriating back-and-forth between him and South Korean authorities over the weekend over the which means of “on the run.” In quick, the Terraform Labs cofounder on Saturday stated he was “not on the run,” whereas the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office on Sunday stated Kwon was “obviously on the run,” the Yonhap News Agency reported.

“I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar – for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide,” Kwon tweeted on Saturday. “We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions – we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months.”

Cheekily, the Terraform Labs co-founder added: “Cheers 🥂”

On Sunday, South Korean prosecutors stated that he flew to Singapore in April and was “obviously on the run.” That was proper round the identical time he dissolved the Terraform Labs South Korean workplace. Prosecutors allege Kwon did this to “evade investigation.” South Korean authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and for Terraform Labs’ head of analysis Nicholas Platias.

Back in May, paperwork from the South Korean Supreme Court appeared to point out that Kwon and different Terraform executives determined to shut the agency’s Korean workplace one week earlier than the crash of TerraUSD and Luna, a really suspicious coincidence that the corporate swore was truly months within the making.

Furthermore, based on the Yonhap News Agency, South Korean prosecutors state that the Terraform Labs co-founder knowledgeable them by means of his lawyer in August that he had no intention to seem earlier than them for questioning.

“Currently, we are in the process to locate the whereabouts of suspect Do Kwon and apprehend him,” a prosecution official stated.

Meanwhile, Singapore police stated on Saturday that Kwon was not within the nation.


#Prosecutors #Enlist #Interpol #Manhunt #Kwon #Terra #Founder #Hes #Run
https://gizmodo.com/prosecutors-ask-interpol-red-notice-manhunt-for-do-kwon-1849554403