NEW YORK, NY – Terraform Labs co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon’s US criminal fraud trial is tentatively scheduled for next January, giving prosecutors and Kwon’s defense attorneys enough time to review the “massive” six terabytes of data expected to be produced during the discovery process.

During a preliminary hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, Chief Prosecutor Jared Lenow told the court that the government expected to face further delays due to challenges in accessing encrypted information and unlocking four cell phones provided by Montenegrin authorities when they extradited Kwon to the United States on 31 December. . Lenow added that the government must also translate extracted material from Kwon’s native Korean.

“It sounds like we’re going to back up a U-Haul for the Southern District,” District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) said Wednesday.

Engelmayer said that scheduling the start date of a trial for over a year from the first conference was “unprecedented” in his career as a judge. He told Kwon’s lead attorney, Michael Ferrara of Hecker Fink LLP, to ask his client — currently being held without bail in a local correctional facility after spending 22 months in custody in Montenegro — if he would prefer an earlier trial. Engelmayer gave the defense a week to request an earlier date in 2025.

Last week, Kwon pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment charging him with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodity fraud and conspiracy to launder money stemming from the $40 billion implosion of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem in 2022.

Kwon and his company were charged with civil fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023 and subsequently found guilty by a New York jury. Together, they were ordered to pay $4.5 billion in fines and disgorgement, with Kwon himself contributing $200 million. Terraform Labs has since filed for bankruptcy.

The next status meeting in the case is scheduled for March 6 at 11 a.m. Eastern time.