Overview
- Federal prosecutors asked Judge Paul Engelmayer to impose a 12-year sentence, the cap permitted under Do Kwon’s plea to conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.
- Kwon’s lawyers requested five years, pointing to nearly three years already served in custody and possible prosecution in South Korea, and noted he agreed to forfeit more than $19 million and properties.
- The government’s filing argues the Terra crash erased tens of billions of dollars, contributed to a wider market crisis, and warrants a term that deters large-scale crypto fraud.
- Prosecutors invoked comparisons to other cases, saying a stiff term would avoid disparities with Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25-year sentence and Alex Mashinsky’s 12-year term.
- Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in 2023 for using forged passports, extradited to New York earlier this year, and is scheduled to be sentenced in Manhattan on December 11.