Where in the World is Do Kwon? Terra CEO Says ‘I’m Not On The Run’
Do Kwon, the crypto developer behind failed stablecoin ecosystem Terra, addressed his legal problems in a candid tweet thread on Saturday
Do Kwon interviewed; Source: Coinage
key takeaways
- South Korean prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for multiple Terraform insiders including CEO Do Kwon
- They were believed to be in Singapore, but police have said Kwon is currently not in the city-state
Do Kwon, rumored to have been living in Singapore since his crypto project Terra collapsed, now claims he isn’t evading authorities and wants to clarify “the truth” about what happened.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, the Terra and Luna founder said he’s open to providing details about his location to certain people and further shed light on what he’s been up to.
South Korean prosecutors said on Sunday that Kwon was “obviously on the run” and isn’t cooperating, according to Yonhap News. They said Kwon flew to Singapore in April to evade investigation and dissolved the firm’s Korean-based Terra branch.
“I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar,” Kwon wrote. “For any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide.”
“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.” He closed his tweet thread with “Cheers!” and an emoji of two wine glasses clinking.
Last week, a court issued the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office six arrest warrants for former employees working at the startup, including Do Kwon and financial officer Han Mo, over alleged breaches of securities and capital markets law.
Their information was also sent to Interpol member states via a Red Notice, enabling their arrest in multiple jurisdictions. Exact losses felt by Terra investors are difficult to calculate, but terraUSD and its sister token luna were together worth more than $41 billion just before they imploded.
According to South Korean reports, all wanted individuals were residing in Singapore at the time the arrest warrants were issued. But Singapore police told Reuters on Saturday that Kwon is currently not there. They added they would help South Korean prosecutors within their authorized scope and international obligations, but didn’t clarify the whereabouts of the others.
It would be difficult for Kwon to travel from wherever he may be at the moment as prosecutors are also in the process of invalidating his passport. Still, that process may be delayed as South Korean authorities were coordinating with Singapore for the return of five passports belonging to Terraform affiliates.
Kwon joked in a tweet that he hadn’t been running for sometime now and should possibly start. “Tbh [to be honest, I haven’t] gone running in a while, need to cut some calories.”
So, at this stage, Kwon’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
