Summary:
- Co-Founder of Terraform Labs Daniel Shin needs more time to mount his defense, lawyers told a Seoul Court on Monday.
- Shin’s April indictment alleges that the former Terra exec and seven other former company employees broke South Korea’s Capital Markets Act.
- South Korean investigators are also looking to prosecute founder Do Kwon who is in a Montenegrin jail cell for forging travel papers.
The first hearing for a case against Terraform co-founder Daniel Shin held on Monday following the company’s astronomical crash last year that deleted over $40 million from investor’s pockets.
According to South Korean media outlet News 1, the Seoul Southern District Court preliminary hearing addressed charges brought against Shin and seven other former Terra employees. Although Shin did not personally appear in court, his lawyers requested more time to mount a defense as the case is highly technical. The court set a date of August 28 for a second hearing.
Shin and other former executives became subjects of investigations in South Korea following the crash of Terra last year. In April, prosecutors formally indicted Shin and claimed that he violated the country’s Capital Markets Act.
While two requests for Shin’s arrest were denied, authorities have reportedly seized around 247 billion won in assets belonging to former Terra execs. Co-founder Shin and his lawyers denied any wrongdoing and insisted that he left the company prior to any malicious activity.
Terra Co-Founders In Legal Bind
Indeed, Do Kwon and Daniel Shin who are the co-founders of Terraform Labs face legal consequences after their company’s massive crash in 2022. Shin is currently on trial in South Korea despite claiming he cut ties with the company before the crash.
Do Kwon who is wanted by Interpol, South Korean law enforcement, and U.S. authorities, was found guilty of forging travel documents in Montenegro. A judge sentenced Kwon to four months in jail after a court decided that he would remain in detention for the rest of 2023 while authorities consider extradition requests.