“KRW 9 BN WIRED BEFORE TERRA CRASH”

[Anchor Lead]

The prosecution has confirmed that Kwon Do-hyung, the CEO of Terraform Labs, who caused 50 trillion won in investment damage in the Terra-Luna cyrpocurrency crash, transferred a large sum of money to Kim & Chang, the largest law firm in the country, just before the market crash. The amount sent to Kim & Chang since then reaches around 9 billion won. The prosecution is tracking the origin of this money and where it came from.

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Terra and Luna cryptocurrencies plunged in value in May of 2022. Those who sustained losses from the scandal requested an investigation calling it financial fraud.

[Soundbite] (Victim of Terra and Luna scandal) : "Some people lost really big money, and some even had to make undesirable decisions like filing for a divorce."

It's been found that around the same time, preluding the crash, a large sum of money was wired from a Terraform Labs account to the nation's largest law firm, Kim & Chang. Prosecutors tracking down the money flow at Terraform Labs' headquarters based in Singapore have found that a total of nine billion won was transferred to Kim & Chang several times right before the cryptocurrencies' values plunged. Korean prosecutors and Singaporean investigators are trying to find out the source of the money in question. They believe if the cryptocurrency belonging to the company had been turned into cash, an embezzlement charge could be applied. They are also zeroing in on the fact that the money was wired "right before the value began to plunge". This could mean that Kwon Do-hyung knew beforehand about the possibility of the value collapse and prepared for legal action. This could serve as another legal basis for proving the fraud charges against Kwon.

[Soundbite] Choi Chang-min(Attorney) : "The transfer of a large sum prior to the cryptocurrency collapse can be seen as preparation for legal battles and investigations."

The prosecutors say the amount transferred to Kim & Chang is way too large to be seen as a consulting fee. When Kim & Chang represented Oxy in the humidifier disinfectant case, it received 9.5 billion won over the course of four years for its legal services. The 9 billion won sent by Terraform Labs was transferred over a period of just a few months. If a large sum from criminal funds was sent this way to prepare for the upcoming legal battles, the prosecutors believe it can be confiscated and seized even though it has already been transferred to the law firm. When asked by KBS how and why Kim & Chang received the nine billion won, the law firm only said it's difficult to comment on specific cases. Some 200-thousand people are estimated to have sustained losses from the Terra and Luna scandal. Kwon has not paid a single dime to any of them so far.