Do Kwon’s arrest: South Korea considers Interpol red notice and passport revoke

Four months after the collapse of Terraform Labs’ stablecoin TerraUSD and the subsequent crypto meltdown, South Korea has issued an arrest warrant for founder Do Kwon, head of research Nicholas Platias, as well as employee Han Mo and three others.

South Korea began investigating Terra shortly after its collapse. Both its tokens, TerraUSD and LUNA, were popular among local investors — many of whom went to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office seeking charges of fraud when their investments were wiped out.

A subsequent investigation has resulted in six Terra members mentioned in an arrest warrant, issued on Wednesday. All reside in Singapore where Terraform Labs is headquartered.

Their names are reportedly in the process of being added to Interpol’s red notice, a list of fugitives wanted by national authorities. A red notice is a “request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.”

Other actions reportedly being considered to secure Kwon’s arrest include nullifying his South Korean passport.

Last month, South Korea raided the offices of seven crypto exchanges as part of its Terra investigation. Among them were Coinage, Upbit, and Bithumb. The homes and offices of suspects were also raided, including Terra co-founder Daniel Shin. Interestingly, Wednesday’s arrest warrant mentions Kwon but not Shin.

Kwon told Coinage in an interview last month he hadn’t been contacted by South Korean authorities but that he was willing to cooperate. When asked how he would handle the prospect of serving jail time, he replied, “Life is long.”

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