Extradition concerns pushed back the start of the SEC trial against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon until March 25.
The trial of Terraform Labs and its co-founder, Do Kwon, who are facing charges of a $40 billion cryptocurrency scam, has been postponed, according to US District Judge Jed Rakoff of Manhattan.
The new trial date is March 25; however, it was originally set to begin on January 29. The extradition of Do Kwon from his current detention in Montenegro is the cause of the delay, so that he may be present at the trial.
Judge Rakoff stressed that there is no assurance that Do Kwon will be freed in time, despite his claim that he has agreed to his extradition from Montenegro. Even though the court knew it couldn’t be delayed any longer, he granted Do Kwon’s counsel’s motion to postpone the trial.
Hence, the trial has been rescheduled to March 25, and no more postponements will be considered, regardless of whether Do Kwon’s extradition goes through as planned or not.
Following the demise of TerraUSD—a “stablecoin” intended to keep its value at a constant $1—and the more conventional token Luna, which was intricately associated with TerraUSD—the SEC has instituted a civil action against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon. The failure of TerraUSD to retain its $1 peg in May 2022 caused both cryptocurrencies to incur enormous losses, with the losses amounting to $40 billion or more.
Terraform and Do Kwon are facing allegations from the SEC for potentially deceiving investors about the reliability of TerraUSD and the method by which a well-known Korean mobile payment app used the Terraform blockchain for transaction settlement. The SEC and those charged are now embroiled in a legal dispute over these claims.
Along with the SEC’s civil lawsuit, he is also the subject of related criminal charges in the US and an extradition request from his native South Korea. His extradition is now a pivotal aspect of the impending trial due to these legal hurdles.
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