Terraform Labs co-founder on S.Korea crosshair following Do Kwon arrest


Following Terraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon’s arrest in Montenegro while trying to fly off-shore using fake documents, South Korean authorities have turned up efforts to track down and arrest the other co-founder of the company, Shin Hyun-Seong, also known as Daniel Shin.

Since November 2022, South Korean authorities have suspected the involvement of numerous Terra colleagues in helping Do Kwon promote unstable and uncertain investment opportunities with Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) tokens.

However, after Kwon’s arrest on March 23, 2023, South Korean prosecutors are making a fresh attempt at Shin’s arrest, suggests a Bloomberg report. It reads that the prosecutors are undertaking a renewed push to detain Shin. However, no official announcement has been made public in this regard.

Authorities have previously alleged that Shin earned roughly $105 million in profits from illegal sales of LUNA tokens before Terra’s collapse. On the other hand, Shin claims to have had no involvement in Terra after January 2020, as evidenced by his LinkedIn profile.

Co-founder of Terraform Labs, Daniel Shin’s professional experience overview. Source: LinkedIn

Arrest warrants were also subsequently sought for Shin, along with three investors and four engineers. Charges against the co-founder include fraud, breach of duty, violation of capital-markets law and illegal fund-raising.

Related: Do Kwon faces fraud charges from US prosecutors hours after arrest

After getting caught using fake travel documents, Kwon was detained by Montenegro authorities for a standard 72 hours. However, upon request by the authorities, the Montenegrin court approved the extension of Kwon’s detention by 30 days.

Claiming there was no intended use of fake documents, one of Kwon’s legal representatives plans to appeal the court’s decision and seek a reduction in detention time. The court considered that Kwon was a foreign national whose identity was not clearly identified.

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