South Korea seeks arrest of Terra-Luna co-founder Daniel Shin
- The collapse of the Terra stablecoin and its sister cryptocurrency Luna in May resulted in losses to hundreds of thousands of investors worldwide
- Prosecutors investigating the crash are looking to charge Shin, who co-founded Terraform Labs with CEO Do Kwon, and 7 others with fraud and other offences
South Korean prosecutors investigating the Terra-Luna collapse on Tuesday requested a bench warrant for Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin and seven other Terra associates, Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office prosecutor Choi Sung-kook confirmed with Forkast.
A bench warrant is similar to an arrest warrant but allows law enforcement to take suspects into custody, according to law firm Alband, Lane & Balderrama.
The request will undergo a court review, or a direct judgment of warrant, on December 2. Prosecutors require the court’s approval before issuing the warrant.
South Korean prosecutors are looking to charge Daniel Shin – whose real name is Shin Hyun-seung – and the others with fraud, violation of the Capital Markets Act and the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and breach of duty.
Prosecutors accused Shin of making illegitimate profits of over 140 billion Korean won (US$106 million) through the Luna cryptocurrency, promoting the Terra stablecoin as a payment method despite multiple warnings from regulators, and misusing users’ private information of Chai Corporation to promote Terra-Luna.
