Montenegrin police officers of the PJP (Special Police Unit) escort South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon (C) at the exit of a court in Podgorica, Montenegro, on March 23, 2024. SAVO PRELEVIC / AFP
A US court sentenced cryptocurrency tycoon Do Kwon to 15 years in prison on Thursday, December 11, over fraud linked to his company's failure, which wiped out $40 billion of investors' money and shook global crypto markets.
Kwon, who nurtured two digital currencies central to the bankruptcy, was sentenced at the New York court where he pleaded guilty in August after an international manhunt spanning Asia and Europe. He still faces fraud charges in his native South Korea.
The 34-year-old's Terraform Labs created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD that was marketed as a "stablecoin," a token that is pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations.
Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype. He was flooded with praise in South Korean media, which described him as a "genius" as thousands of private investors lined up to pour cash into his company. And in 2019, Kwon was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia list. Despite billions in investment, TerraUSD and its sister token Luna went into a death spiral in May 2022.
