Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon has been charged with fraud by United States prosecutors in New York, just hours after he was reportedly arrested in Montenegro.
The former cryptocurrency king was apprehended at the Podgorica airport with forged documents and an eight-count indictment against was made public in the US District Court in Manhattan.
A federal grand jury accused Kwon of securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, as well as conspiracy, along with other charges. The indictment noted that Kwon allegedly deceived investors about the Terra blockchain and also falsified its adoption figures in television interviews and on social media.
Also the South Korean foreign ministry officially canceled Kwon’s passport on Oct. 20, after he failed to surrender his passport following an October 6 order.
In its civil case, the SEC accused Kwon and Terraform of “orchestrating a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency asset securities fraud.
“We also allege that they committed fraud by repeating false and misleading statements to build trust before causing devastating losses for investors,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement at the time.
moreover, Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators across the globe following a string of recent controversies.