SEC v. The Terraform Labs trial was pushed back to March to accommodate Do Kwon
A federal judge has ordered the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case against Terraform Labs to be delayed until March, asking Do Koon to appear in person to help defend himself.
On January 16 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Jed Rakoff upheld SEC v. Terraform Labs moved the trial date to March 25. The judge added that there was “absolutely no guarantee” that Quoon would be granted. He was exempt from extradition proceedings in Montenegro in time to appear in person for trial, but he facilitated a request from his legal team to join the SEC.
The trial was scheduled to begin in February 2023, nearly a year after the indictment against Terraform and Kwon, who alleged that the two parties coordinated a “multibillion-dollar crypto-asset securities fraud.” Tokens were previously called TerraUSD (UST) and Terra (LUNA).
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The Terra ecosystem collapsed in May 2022, after which time Kuwon's whereabouts were largely unknown. Montenegrin authorities arrested the founder of Terraform Labs in March 2023 for using fraudulent travel documents and sentenced him to four months in prison. He remains in the country as extradition proceedings between the US and Montenegro continue at press time.
It's unclear whether Kwon will be able to participate in the SEC case in person, but pretrial motions are moving forward. In December, Judge Rakoff ruled in favor of Kwon and Terraform in connection with Terraform's unregistered securities and the offering and sale of security-based swaps to the SEC.
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