Manhattan Court Postpones Terra LUNA Boss Do Kwon's Trial

Terra LUNA founder, Do Kwon. (Photo; Doc. BlockNews)

JAKARTA - The crypto scandal involving Terraform Labs founder and former CEO, Do Kwon, is now entering a new chapter. After being extradited from Montenegro to the US, Do Kwon has been detained without guarantees in a New York prison. However, now Do Kwon's trial has to be postponed until next year due to a number of obstacles.

The Manhattan court decided to postpone the trial schedule to give prosecutors and lawyers time to examine the available evidence, which includes six terabytes of data containing encrypted information and documents in Korean, Kwon's native language.

The evidence found in this investigation includes four phones submitted by the Montenegro authorities, which contain key information related to this case. The process of unlocking the phone and translating the existing data will take quite some time.

In addition, most of the data must be translated from Korean. Judge Paulgelymayer, who handled the case, revealed that the pending trial scheduling process for more than a year was something that had never happened in his career. However, given the complexity of this case, he gave Kwon's lawyer the opportunity to apply for an earlier trial schedule in 2025.

Do Kwon faces charges on nine articles, including securities fraud, cable fraud, commodity fraud, and money laundering conspiracies. All of these accusations stem from allegations that he has deceived investors and manipulated the market, which ultimately led to the destruction of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem in 2022.

The losses incurred are estimated at more than $40 billion, with more than one million victims. Although Kwon has denied all these allegations, the impact of Terraform Labs' collapse is still being felt today, especially LUNA investors and traders.

This case is not only about Kwon's personal responsibility, but also has the potential to be an important precedent for handling major fraud cases in the crypto industry in the future.