Swiss Prosecutors Freeze Terraform Labs CEO’s Assets
Swiss prosecutors have reportedly frozen approximately $260 million, including Bitcoin (BTC), belonging to Do Kwon, the CEO of Terraform Labs (TFL). The assets were held in the digital asset bank Signum in Zurich.
According to Digital Asset, Swiss prosecutors recently froze about $26 million in assets of Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon and others stored in digital asset bank Signum in Zurich, Switzerland. https://t.co/f6kMYFfVr9
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) June 25, 2023
Signum Bank’s Frozen Assets
On June 6, reports emerged regarding the status of Kwon’s assets as regulators and investigative agencies both domestically and internationally began looking into the matter. Recently, at the request of the U.S. Federal Prosecutors in New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Swiss prosecutors froze $24 million worth of virtual assets and dollars held by Signum Bank in Zurich, Switzerland.
Signum Bank gained significant attention on April 4 when it was exclusively reported as the bank from which Kwon Do-hyung allegedly stole BTC. It has positioned itself as the world’s first digital asset bank and was established in Switzerland and Singapore in 2017. In March, the bank also opened a Middle East hub in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The frozen assets are believed to be owned by Kwon, Han Chang-jun (former head of Tsai Corporation), Nicholas Platias (former head of TFL’s research team), and TFL Corporation. The size of the frozen assets is nearly double the amount disclosed by South Korean prosecutors to foreign media recently.
Questions on Uncovered Bitcoin
This development has raised curiosity as to whether Swiss and U.S. federal prosecutors have uncovered Bitcoin and other materials that were previously unknown. Dan Sung-han, head of the Financial and Securities Crimes Division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, revealed in an interview with Bloomberg on June 6 that Kwon and others had over $8 million in funds at Signum.
The U.S. SEC had filed a complaint against Kwon and TFL in the Southern District of New York in February, alleging that Kwon had sent 2.1 BTC (worth about 3 trillion won at the time) to “a financial institution in Switzerland” and converted them into legal tender.
The freezing of assets by Swiss prosecutors marks a significant development in the ongoing investigations into Kwon and TFL, and further actions are anticipated as authorities delve deeper into the case.
