South Korea seizes $104M from Terra co-founder suspecting unfair profits. The seizure is intended to prevent the Terra executive from disposing of the assets before his trial this week.
Because of his involvement in the demise of the Terra ecosystem in May, South Korean authorities have confiscated more than $100 million worth of assets belonging to Shin Hyun-Seong (Daniel Shin), the co-founder of Terraform Labs, for his role in the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May.
While FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, took the spotlight from other ecosystems that had collapsed, South Korean authorities are still working to provide closure for Terraform Labs, the year’s first major cryptocurrency meltdown. On suspicion of inflated profits, South Korean authorities froze roughly $104.4 million (140 billion Won) from co-founder Shin Hyun-seong nearly six months after the Terra (LUNA) blockchain was formally shut down.
YTN reports that the prosecutor’s request to freeze the 140 billion won ($104 million) in profits Shin made from the sale of pre-issued LUNA at a high price without informing retail investors was granted by the court.
Shin to Cooperate With Prosecutors
The request to take Shin’s assets is a part of an ongoing investigation to establish evidence against Terraform Labs that the co-founder made unauthorized gains from digital assets tied to Terra, including the collapsed LUNA and UST tokens, now known as LUNC and USTC. Authorities think Shin sold the tokens in secret before the enterprise failed, breaking local capital restrictions. His attorney allegedly refuted the charges, stating that they are untrue.
Additionally, according to the prosecution, he unlawfully transmitted customer transaction data from his payment technology company Chai Corporation to Terraform Labs and was responsible for Terra’s crash. The court’s ruling tries to stop the Terra executive from selling the assets prior to this week’s trial.
Authorities in South Korea are presently looking into Shin on two counts, including earning unauthorized gains by issuing internal tokens such as LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) and giving Terraform Labs access to customer transaction data through Chai, a Korean payment app connected to Terra. The suspected co-founder was ordered to appear in court on November 14 as part of an inquiry into the failure of the company by South Korean prosecutors.
