Is Terra's CEO on The Run? Do Kwon Finally Responds to Allegations

The founder of the failed cryptocurrency Terra from South Korea, Do Kwon, who is now most wanted by authorities, denied being on the run when Singaporean investigators said he was not actually in the city-state as previously assumed in a report by The Guardian.

Following a statement from Singapore police late on Saturday, Kwon's whereabouts are now unknown, and his tweets did not indicate his location.

World Urged to Follow EU Cryptoassets Rules: Financial Services Chief — An illustration picture taken in London on May 8, 2022, shows gold plated souvenir cryptocurrency Tether (USDT), Bitcoin and Etherium coins arranged beside a screen displaying a trading chart. - Tether (USDT) is an Ethereum token known as a stablecoin that is pegged to the value of the US dollar, and is currently the largest stablecoin with a market value of USD 83 billion dollars. JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Under Investigation

A $40 billion investment loss was caused by Terraform Labs' crash earlier this year. Kwon is under investigation by a financial crimes unit and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US after being accused of fraud by five South Korean investors.

A South Korean court also issued a warrant for Kwon's arrest on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

"I am not 'on the run or anything similar - for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don't have anything to hide," Kwon said in a tweet.

"We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions - we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months."

We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions - we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months
— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

The Terra CEO was previously thought to be in Singapore, where he gave his first media interview since the collapse of the cryptocurrency operator in May.

However, the Singapore police department told The Guardian on Saturday that Do Kwon is not in the southeast Asian country.

Renewal Application in Jeopardy?

Kwon's work visa in the city-state was set to expire on Dec. 7, according to the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore, but his renewal application may now be in jeopardy.

South Korean prosecutors have also filed arrest warrants for five additional individuals connected to the stablecoin TerraUSD and its sister token Luna.

Kwon's Terra/Luna system collapsed in May, sending the value of both currencies tumbling to almost zero and impacting the whole cryptocurrency market. Losses from its collapse exceeded $500 billion.

When Luna and Terra had a massive meltdown, numerous investors lost their entire life savings, and South Korean authorities launched several criminal investigations after the crash.