While crypto exchange FTX stole the limelight from other fallen ecosystems, South Korean authorities continue to bring closure to the victims of the year’s first crypto crash — Terraform Labs. Nearly six months after the Terra blockchain was officially halted, South Korean authorities froze approximately $104.4 million (140 billion won) from co-founder Shin Hyun-Seong based on suspicion of unfair profits.
The decision to freeze Shin’s asset worth over $104 million was approved by the Seoul Southern District Court, which was based on a request from the prosecutors. The claim related to Shin’s involvement in selling pre-issued Terra LUNA tokens to unwary investors.
Based on suspicion of profiting from unwarranted LUNA sales, the district court froze the allegedly stolen funds until further investigations are underway, reported local news media YTN.
The preindictment preservation of the funds prevents bad actors from disposing of stolen funds and causing more financial damage or losses for the investors.
Shin is currently being investigated by South Korean authorities on two charges. First, making unfair profits from issuing in-house tokens LUNA and TerraUSD (UST) and, second, leaking customer transaction information of Chai — a Korean payment app linked to Terra — to Terraform Labs.
On November 14, the South Korean prosecutors requested the accused co-founder appear in court as part of an investigation into the firm’s collapse.