South Korea Makes New Attempt to Arrest Another Terraform Labs Founder

Following the successful capture of Terraform Labs' co-founder Do Kwon in Montenegro last week, South Korean prosecutors revealed they are trying to make a new effort to arrest Daniel Shin, a financial technology (Fintech) entrepreneur who was one of the founders of TFL.

South Korean authorities have been playing cat and mouse with Kwon and other Terraform Labs (TFL) executives after the company's so-called algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and native token LUNA spectacularly collapsed in May last year.

While authorities have issued arrest warrants for the personalities allegedly involved in the crypto implosion, it was only last week when Kwon was captured and detained in Montenegro despite his name being already on Interpol's red notice list.

With the TFL CEO's capture, South Korean prosecutors are supposedly trying to make a new attempt at Shin's arrest, Bloomberg reported, citing the prosecutor's office in Seoul. Unfortunately, there is no official announcement related to this subject at the moment.

Authorities have alleged in the past that Shin earned approximately $105 million in profits from illegal sales of LUNA before its fateful implosion.

Shin and his lawyers, on the other hand, claimed he was no longer involved in Terra after January 2020. They argued that the executive had split with TFL at the start of that year and has not been involved in its operations since.

Prosecutors attempted to obtain an arrest warrant for Shin in December 2022 but the South Korean court rejected the request, noting at the time that it is difficult to believe prosecutors' claim that he would destroy evidence or was a flight risk.

Eventually, arrest warrants were sought for Shin, three investors and four engineers with the TFL co-founder charged with fraud, breach of duty, violation of capital markets law and illegal fundraising.

In July, a departure ban on TFL employees was put in place, which applied to Shin, former Vice President Kim Mo and other officials.

South Korean authorities also seized $108 million in assets of Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-Seong in November last year.

Meanwhile, Kwon, along with Terraform Labs' chief financial officer Han Chang-joon, are currently in detention in Montenegro after their attempt to leave the country for Dubai was foiled by Montenegrin authorities.

Kwon's lawyer denied that the crypto fugitive possesses a fake passport and said they would appeal before the Montenegrin court against the 30-day extended detention it granted to prosecutors this week.