Overview
- U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in Manhattan imposed a 15-year term, surpassing the 12 years sought by prosecutors after the defense asked for no more than five.
- Do Kwon pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud and acknowledged misleading claims about TerraUSD’s stability and undisclosed support from a trading firm.
- He was ordered to forfeit more than $19 million, and prosecutors said they would not seek restitution because calculating losses across thousands of investors is impracticable.
- The sentence includes credit for time already served in pre-extradition custody, and prosecutors agreed to support a transfer to South Korea for the second half of the term if conditions are met.
- The 2022 failure of TerraUSD and Luna erased roughly $40 billion and spurred wider market fallout, with the court receiving hundreds of victim letters detailing severe financial harm.