Legal proceedings start for Terraform Labs co-founder in South Korea: Report

Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-Seong, also known as Daniel Shin, has reportedly had his first hearing for charges related to allegedly illicit profits from the sale of Terra (LUNA).

According to a July 10 report from News1 Korea, a trial preparation hearing for Shin and 7 alleged accomplices began in a Seoul Southern District Court following his indictment in April. Prosecutors have reportedly said they deceived investors and manipulated the price of certain tokens through media coverage and transactions starting in 2018, resulting in “unfair profits” of roughly 462.9 billion won — more than $354 million at the time of publication.

Shin reportedly sold roughly $118 million worth of LUNA prior to the price of the token crashing in May 2022. He later went on to found the fintech firm Chai Corporation, where he reportedly employed similar tactics to illicitly profit from investor funds.

The attorney for Shin has previously denied reports suggesting he “sold Luna at a high point and realized profits or that he made profits through other illegal methods”. Shin’s LinkedIn profile showed he had not been involved with Terra since January 2020, but this information would seemingly not include any investments with the company’s stock or tokens.

Do Kwon, one of the other co-founders of Terra, was arrested in Montenegro in March for allegedly using forged travel documents. In June, authorities sentenced him to four months in prison, but he could face extradition to either the United States or South Korea upon the completion of his sentence — South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September 2022 for allegedly violating the country’s capital markets laws.

Terra collapsed in May 2022, the first in a line of dominos that resulted in a crash of the crypto market. The platform’s algorithmic stablecoin USTC depegged from the U.S. dollar, prompting authorities to investigate Kwon’s and Shin’s alleged involvement in any illicit transactions prior to and amid the crash.

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