The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had decided to go hard on the crypto personality alleged in fraud cases. The latest actions taken by the commission show that it is pushing for Do Kwon and Terraform Labs to pay more than $5 billion in fines. This comes after both of them were found liable for fraud earlier this month.
SEC seeks $545 million in prejudgment interest
The recent filings to the Southern District of New York reveal that the SEC has requested a penalty of around $4.2 billion. This fine comes along with an additional $545 million in prejudgment interest. Apart from this, the regulator is asking Terraform Labs to pay $420 million and Do Kwon to pay $100 million in civil penalties.
As reported, the commission found out that Kwon was liable with Terraform Labs for defrauding crypto investors. They organized a scheme to cheat investors which allegedly resulted in $40 billion in losses.
Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s director of enforcement, stated that both parties “caused devastating losses for investors and wiped out tens of billions of market value nearly overnight.” This statement comes after the historic verdict.
Terraform Labs and its issued crypto tokens like TerraClassicUSD and Terra Classic collapsed in Mat 2022. Its flagship crypto token TerraUSD lost its peg to the dollar. This event went on to trigger a major crisis in the crypto market which led to heavy losses. However, it left a huge dent in Bitcoin price and cumulative market cap.
Bitcoin recovers from the horror show
In May 2022, Bitcoin price plunged to $16,000 levels, increasing panic and selling pressure in the market. However, the digital assets market took its time to recover from this disaster. In March 2024, BTC went ahead to hit its new all time high (ATH) of $73,750 riding high on the pump given by the approval of spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).
Bitcoin is trading at an average price of trading at an average price of $66,658, at the press time. Its 24 hour trading volume stands around $24 billion on April 24, 2024. BTC is holding a market cap of more than $1.31 trillion.
As of now, Do Kwon is stuck in an extradition battle between the US and South Korea. Back in 2023, US prosecutors filed eight criminal counts against him. This includes securities, commodities, and wire fraud. On the other hand, South Korea had also issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September 2022. It alleged violations of capital market rules.
