Do Kwon, the architect of a $60 billion cryptocurrency crash, may be attempting to avoid accountability for a disaster that jolted global markets for digital assets, according to South Korean prosecutors. Kwon had relocated from South Korea to Singapore, the base of his now-defunct Terraform Labs enterprise, although the city-state claims he has left. Even though Seoul prosecutors are seeking Kwon’s arrest over claims including breaking capital-markets law, his location is unknown, and he insists that he is not on the run.
There has been “circumstantial evidence of escape” ever since he left for Singapore, and that is why an arrest warrant was issued in the first place, the prosecutors’ office said in a text message. It declined to comment on whether the office knows of Kwon’s whereabouts or plans to contact Interpol.
The implosion of the TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin and its sister token Luna sparked huge losses in crypto markets, which were already reeling from tightening monetary policy. Digital assets have yet to recover and regulators are pouring over the wreckage to see how to avoid a repeat. In South Korea, earlier ardor for crypto is being usurped by growing disdain.
Kwon tweeted over the weekend that he doesn’t “have anything to hide” and is in “full cooperation” with officials but didn’t publicly reveal his location.
“We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions — we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months,” he also said on Twitter.
However, the Yonhap News Agency in a report cited prosecutors as saying that Kwon is not cooperating with probes and has told investigators via an attorney that he has no intention of appearing before them for questioning.
Kwon faces arrest in South Korea along with five others over the Terra unraveling. Officials could cancel his passport, which in theory would require him to return to Seoul within 14 days of receiving the notice of revocation.
He has a Singapore employment pass which is due to expire Dec. 7 and an application for another pass is pending, government records show.
