The U.S. district judge who convicted Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon of defrauding investors requested answers to a series of questions before the hearing takes place Thursday, court documents revealed.
Paul A. Engelmayer, a judge for the Southern District of New York, asked six questions, including whether Kwon’s victims will have their day in court and whether he will be able to avoid serving time if sent to South Korea, where he faces pending charges. The judge asked both sides to respond to his questions by December 10.
The collapse of Terraform, which reached over $50 billion in market capitalization at its peak, was a pivotal moment in the 2022 crypto market crash.
“Assuming a transfer of Mr. Kwon to foreign custody to serve the back half of his sentence, what assurance would the United States have that he would not be released before the completion of the prison term imposed by this court?” the judge asked. He also asked if Kwon’s victims “have expressed an interest in being heard at sentencing?”
US federal prosecutors are seeking 12 years in prison for Kwon; his defense team requested a five-year term.
Engelmayer also requested clarity on whether Kwon should get credit for about 17 months spent in Montenegrin custody, what specific criminal exposure he still faces in South Korea, how any victim restitution process would work and whether he will qualify for federal sentence reduction credits or face supervised release at all.
