US federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to 12 years in prison. The request was filed today (Thursday) in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The
sentencing hearing is scheduled for next week.
Kwon has asked the court
to consider a prison term of five years. In filings ahead of the hearing in
Manhattan, his lawyers said the 12-year sentence sought by prosecutors is “far
greater than necessary.”
They noted that Kwon has already spent nearly three years in
custody, including time held in Montenegro. Under his plea agreement, he agreed
to forfeit more than $19 million and several properties. His defense also said
he may still face prosecution in South Korea for the same conduct.
Crypto Market Crisis Linked to Kwon
Prosecutors said the losses tied to Terraform were
significant. The filing stated that “in just a few years, Kwon caused losses
that eclipsed” those linked to Sam Bankman-Fried, Alexander Mashinsky, and Karl
Sebastian Greenwood. It added that the Terraform collapse “triggered a cascade
of crises” in the crypto market and contributed to what became known as the
“Crypto Winter.”
NEW: Prosecutors say Terra founder Do Kwon deserves no fewer than 12 years in prisonKwon’s attorneys had asked the judge for 5 years last week. Sentencing scheduled for December 11 pic.twitter.com/CQMAWzQErT
— Coinage ♻️ (@coinage_media) December 5, 2025
US to Sentence Kwon This Week
US authorities first indicted Kwon in March 2023. The
charges included securities fraud, wire fraud, market manipulation, and money
laundering related to his role in the Terra blockchain project. After the
collapse of Terra in 2022, Kwon’s location was unknown for several months. He
was later arrested in Montenegro on unrelated charges and subsequently
extradited to the United States.
This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.
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