South Korean prosecutors have reportedly asked Interpol to intervene in the case of terra Do Kwon’s co-founder with a move to issue a “Red Notice” – asking global law enforcement agencies to make an effort to find and arrest him.
According to Monday’s report from the Financial Times, the Seoul Southern District prosecutor’s office said it had “begun procedures” to place Kwon on Interpol’s Red Wanted list following steps to revoke the Terra co-founder’s passport while he was in Singapore. Interpol’s website states that authorities require “locating and temporarily arresting a person awaiting extradition, surrender or similar legal action,” but the agency cannot force local law enforcement to arrest the subject under the notice.
“We are doing our best to locate and arrest [Kwon],” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said. “He was clearly on the run when senior Terra executives also left for Singapore at the same time.”
Kwon remains active on social media even as he is likely to be arrested and prosecuted. The Terra co-founder claimed that he was “not ‘running’ or anything like that” but did not disclose his location – his Twitter account still shows his location in Singapore at the time of writing. Reuters reported on Saturday that authorities in Singapore said Kwon was no longer in South Korea but had moved to Singapore in April.
Dear CT – I will tell you what i am doing and where i am if:
1) we are friends
2) we have plans to meet
3) we are involved in a gps based web3 gameOtherwise you have no business knowing my gps coordinates
— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022
The incident began in May when the project’s TerraUSD Classic (USTC) algorithm-based stablecoin — initially TerraUSD (UST) — dropped to near zero within a few days. week. The price of Terra (LUNA) – now Terra Classic (LUNC) also fell amid many platforms, for example Celsius having liquidity problems.
Kwon, several Terra employees, and the company were the target of an investigation by South Korean financial authorities. The agency searched the offices of cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax on July 7. On September 14, a South Korean court reportedly issued arrest warrants for Kwon and 5 terra-linked individuals on charges of violating capital market laws. However, South Korea does not have an extradition agreement with Singapore.
According to Interpol, there are currently 7,151 individuals publicly named on the agency’s Red Wanted list out of 69,270. At the time of writing, Kwon was not among them, and the only South Korean citizen with such a name, Lee Changhwan, 59, is wanted by Indian authorities.
