Crypto Mogul Do Kwon To Be Sentenced In $40 Billion Stablecoin Crash

(MENAFN- Yolo Wire) Former cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 11 for misleading investors who lost a combined $40 billion U.S. when his company's stablecoin failed in 2022.

Kwon, known by some as "the crypto king," pleaded guilty in a New York federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs' massive $40 billion U.S. collapse.

The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable stablecoin, which is a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to more stable assets such as the U.S. dollar or price of gold (TVC: $GOLD).

But U.S. prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down, devastating investors and triggering "a crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets."

Kwon, who is from South Korea, has agreed to forfeit over $19 million U.S. as part of a plea deal.

While federal sentencing guidelines recommend a prison sentence of 25 years, prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Kwon to 12 years.

They cite his guilty plea, the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea, and that he has already served time in prison while awaiting trial.

Kwon's lawyers have asked that the sentence not exceed five years, arguing that his conduct stemmed not from greed but from desperation.

U.S. authorities have said investors worldwide lost billions in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm, which Kwon co-founded in 2018.

Around $40 billion U.S. in market value was erased for the holders of the TerraUSD stablecoin after it lost its peg to the American dollar and fell below $1 U.S.

Kwon was arrested and extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro in March 2023.

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