Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States Stock and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to postpone the trial of Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, who were accused of committing crypto asset fraud worth US$ 40 billion (Rp. 623 trillion). The reason is, Do Kwon has not yet been successfully extradited from Europe.
Reuters reported that the SEC expressed their agreement in their letter to Manhattan federal court. In the letter, the SEC stated that the change of date for the trial, which was previously scheduled to start on January 29, was acceptable.
The reason is that Do Kwon's lawyers have stated that their client wants to attend the trial and agree to be extradited from Montenegro so he can be in the United States in mid-March.
However, the SEC expressed its rejection of requests for separate hearings between the Terraform and Do Kwon cases. According to them, the two cases are the same and separate trials are only as troublesome as they create whistleblower and retail investors must testify twice.
The judge who will preside over the trial, Jed Rakoff, will decide on a new trial date. The SEC requested that the hearing be moved to April 15, 2024.
Do Kwon's lawyer asked that the trial be postponed to at least March 18 2024. He confirmed that he would not ask for another date adjustment if Do Kwon could not attend the new schedule.
Rakoff had previously ruled that Terraform and Do Kwon violated US law by not registering TerraUSD and Luna as valuable assets with regulators.
TerraUSD is referred to as “stablecoins” namely a crypto asset whose value is pegged to a constant value of US$ 1. However, TerraUSD is different stablecoins another that uses US dollar reserves to maintain prices, but uses an algorithm tied to its partner crypto asset, Luna.
In May 2022, the TerraUSD peg system failed to maintain its value at US$ 1. As a result, the value of both crypto assets fell by US$ 40 billion.
Do Kwon is now awaiting extradition in Montenegro. He served a prison sentence in Montenegro because he was caught using a fake passport. Apart from the US, South Korea also requested Do Kwon's extradition.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
(dem/dem)