Crypto mogul Do Kwon to be sentenced for misleading investors who lost billions in stablecoin crash

NEW YORK AP Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for misleading investors who lost billions when his company s crypto ecosystem collapsed in Kwon known by several as the cryptocurrency king pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs billion crash The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable stablecoin a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices But prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down devastating investors and triggering a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets Kwon who hails from South Korea has agreed to forfeit over million as part of the plea deal While federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison term of about years prosecutors have demanded the court to sentence Kwon to years They cited his guilty plea the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea and that he has already served time in Montenegro while awaiting extradition Kwon s fraud was colossal in scope permeating virtually every facet of Terraform s purported business prosecutors wrote in a latest memo to the judge His rampant lies left a trail of financial destruction in their wake Kwon s attorneys required that the sentence not exceed five years arguing in their own memo that his conduct stemmed not from greed but hubris and desperation In a letter to the judge Kwon wrote I alone am responsible for everyone s pain The region looked to me to know the path and I in my hubris led them astray while adding I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret Officials disclosed investors worldwide lost money in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm which Kwon co-founded in Around billion in territory value was erased for the holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister currency Luna after the stablecoin plunged far below its peg Kwon was extradited to the U S from Montenegro after his March arrest while traveling on a false passport in Europe Source