South Korean cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon made his first appearance in a Manhattan courtroom after the co-founder of the bankrupt Terraform Labs was extradited from Montenegro on Tuesday to face criminal charges in the US.
A new indictment unsealed on Thursday adds a new count of money laundering to the eight original charges announced last year against Kwon — including securities, commodities and wire fraud — over Terraform Labs’ 2022 collapse, which led to a $40bn implosion of its TerraUSD and luna tokens.
The latest indictment alleges Kwon, 33, made numerous false disclosures and lied to investors, regulators and via social media about a range of crypto products and platforms connected to Terraform Labs. The charge covers alleged conduct from 2022 to April 2024 and references wire and crypto transfers of more than $10,000 in “criminally derived property”.