A South Korean judge on Thursday canceled the arrest warrant for a Terraform Labs executive. Earlier Thursday, it was reported the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office arrested a suspect with the surname of Yu; Yu was Terra’s head of general affairs at Terraform Labs. That provisional arrest was the prosecutors’ first in the Terra case, but it may now fall through: In South Korea, a warrant needs to be granted within 48 hours of the arrest, or the person must be released. The warrant judge rejected the prosecution’s request, saying, “It is difficult to see the necessity and significance of arrest.”
This arrest happened right after South Korea invalidated the passport of Terra co-founder Do Kwon earlier. The South Korean government has given Kwon 14 days to comply with the new order, it said in a notice on the website Thursday. The invalidation of a passport would mean Kwon could no longer leave South Korea. If he is not currently in South Korea, he would likely find it difficult to travel elsewhere.
The order follows Interpol issuing a red notice against the crypto entrepreneur last month, requesting law enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and arrest him. The spokesman who wrote to the Wall Street Journal declined to identify Kwon’s location, citing “ongoing physical security risks to him and his family” and noting attempts to break into his residences in South Korea and Singapore.
Kwon has maintained his innocence and has denied reports that authorities have frozen 56.2 billion won ($39.6 million) of his cryptocurrency assets. Kwon reportedly has said that the fund’s South Korean Authorities have frozen are not his. “Have no time to trade. No funds have been frozen,” he said. “I don’t know whose funds they’ve frozen, but good for them, hope they use it for good,” Kwon added.
Kwon’s current whereabouts are unknown, but he keeps his followers updated with his life through Twitter. Kwon has previously said that he is not trying to hide from the authority and is not on the run. The South Korean authorities have said. Otherwise, he is not cooperating with the investigation and is on the run.
The Terra Incident
Terra Co-Founder Do Kwon is a Korean American entrepreneur who has been involved in blockchain technology since 2013. He is the founder of Terra Tech. The Terra ecosystem imploded earlier in the year, leading to a subsequent market crash and a wave of related bankruptcies.
The collapse of Terra cryptocurrency (Luna) and the so-called stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in May wiped out investors’ $40 billion, prompting an uproar that caused the prosecutors to launch investigations into Kwon and his colleagues. The collapse led to a worldwide debate on cryptocurrency regulation and stablecoins. Recently, South Korean authorities have issued arrest warrants for Terra co-founder Do Kwon and his inner circle on multiple charges.
Conclusion
Judge dismisses arrest warrant for Yu, an inner circle member of the Terra. The investigation is still ongoing, and Do Kwon, the co-founder, whereabouts are still unknown.
