After 11 months of investigations, the downfall of Terra stablecoin's ecosystem has led to the indictment of individuals linked to the collapse.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office financial crimes unit has charged Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-seong and nine other individuals with breach of trust, fraud, and embezzlement.
According to the South Korean news portal KBS World, the prosecutor's office concluded that the accused were responsible for the downfall of the Terra ecosystem. Moreover, prosecutors believe that due to the collapse, individuals obtained almost $350 million in illegal profits.
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Based on the report, South Korean authorities believe Hyun-seong lured investors with false advertising and caused substantial losses, even though he knew the project was doomed to fail.
In addition to pressing charges, the prosecutor's office has seized $180 million worth of assets liked to indict individuals. It is the second round of asset confiscation hosted by South Korean prosecutors. At the beginning of April, authorities in South Korea seized $160M in assets from eight Terraform Labs employees.
It is worth noting that other charged individuals are South Korean e-commerce firm's Tmon founder and former CEO, as well as "seven former and current employees of Terraform Labs."
This development comes shortly after a Seoul district court ruled that the Terra Luna (LUNA) token was not a security and, therefore, not subject to the Capital Markets Act. The court had previously rejected the prosecution's requests to charge Hyun-seong for violating security law.
Adding to the Terraform Labs saga, former CEO Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro just last month. Kwon is facing document forgery charges in Montenegro and multiple counts of security fraud from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The indictment of Shin Hyun-seong and nine others signifies the culmination of a complex investigation into the Terra stablecoin ecosystem's collapse, with repercussions felt across multiple jurisdictions.
