Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, will face trial in the United States on January 26, 2026, following a charge of criminal fraud connected with the disastrous collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin that lost $40 billion in 2022. According to a decision by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in New York, the trial will last between four to eight weeks.
Kwon was arrested in March of 2023 in Montenegro and then extradited later that year to the United States, where he was charged with serious crimes allegedly connected to the collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD and its related crypto, LUNA. That caused a shock to the crypt world, which had already been subject to a similar collapse by the FTX exchange the following month.
This case attracts attention with much vigor in society today since a large financial loss was associated with a heavy lawsuit case with Kwon. Kwon, outside of his American case, has other pending prosecutions within his South Korean hometown due to a related crime case.
Terraform Labs reached a $4.47 billion settlement in June 2023 over the collapse with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Earlier this year, a New York jury convicted Kwon of civil fraud in a related SEC case but criminal fraud charges require a much higher standard of proof.
In a recent Manhattan court hearing, prosecutors explained that discovery in the case has been complicated by encrypted data and the need to translate materials from Kwon’s native Korean. Judge Engelmayer joked about the amount of evidence in the case, referring to it as “unprecedented” to set such a far-off trial date.
Kwon, who has been in custody without bail for more than two years, will have to wait until 2026 to face trial. The next court status hearing is set for March 6, 2025.
Also Read: Do Kwon Pleads Not Guilty in US Over Terra Crash of 2022
