South Korean Authorities Seize Terra Executives Assets Worth $160M: Report

About two weeks ago, Terraform Labs’ CEO Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro after trying to fly to another country using fake documents to mask his identity.

Once his real identity was confirmedboth the USA and South Korea requested his extradition.

Asset Seizure by Authorities

For the moment, it’s unclear which request will be prioritized by Montenegrin authorities. In the meantime, however, Korean authorities have been busy back home and, according to local news, have seized property belonging to Terraform Labs’ executives.

Following Kwon’s arrest, Korean law enforcement requested an arrest warrant for Shin “Daniel” Hyun-Song, the co-founder of Terraform Labs. The request was denied, as the South Korean authorities did not believe he was intending to either destroy evidence or flee the country.

Following the rejection, South Korean police decided to take other actions against the Terraform Labs’ co-founder and other executives, seizing real estate from him and one more as of a yet unnamed person, according to local Korean newspaper KBS News. The property of an additional five Terraform Labs employees was also reportedly seized.

Seizure As a Preventive Measure

According to KBS, Korean LEOs motivated the seizure by stating that the move was done to ensure all property of the suspects in question remains available for post-trial litigation, should they be found guilty. Among other things, Hyun-Song is accused of insider trading, allegedly resulting in the unfair gain of 100 billion won, an amount worth nearly $76 million.

“We are still investigating the property ownership status of the suspects, and we plan to carry out collection preservation for the confirmed property in the future in order to recover the proceeds of crime and recover damages.”

The total value of seized property amounts to 210 billion won or about $160 million at the time of writing. Most of it consists of real estate, with the unnamed executive having $31 million worth of property confiscated. The confiscated share of Shin Hyun-Song, on the other hand, was worth nearly twice as much.

If the allegations regarding Hyun-Song’s insider trading prove to be true, this would mean that even the seizure of his real estate would not be enough to cover the amount gained by illegal means, with a further $11 million unaccounted for.