While on the run, Do-hyung Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, reportedly disputed US jurisdiction. This comes amidst South Korean and American law enforcement agencies competing to find recruits for the wanted crypto billionaire who was recently apprehended in Montenegro.
According to a report by YNA, Kwon, a key figure in the Terra Luna debacle asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend the deadline for submitting an appeal request.
The move, as per the article, was done with the intention of disobeying the summons order issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] on August 18 to October 6 last year.
In the documents submitted to the Supreme Court, Kwon’s lawyer argued, “Although Terraform is a Singapore corporation and Kwon is also a resident of Singapore, the SEC [a US institution]’s personal jurisdiction was recognized by the 2nd Court of Appeal.”
Kwon is the CEO of Terraform, an open-source software development company with limited contact with the United States. Most of this company’s business is essentially global, and it is not specifically aimed at the United States.
“Looking at the digital market as well as in a general context, the judgment of this court’s personal jurisdiction is broad and important,” Kwon’s side emphasized.
Terra Founder Attempts To Buy Out More Time
Also, it asked for a delay, stating that the attorneys’ team is under a great deal of pressure to apply for permission to appeal by the deadline of September 6.
It is not yet known whether the Supreme Court actually granted the request for a postponement or whether the Terra founder actually appealed.
According to some analysts, the disgraced CEO may be buying time to lessen the severity of his sentence in the future.
While the maximum term in South Korea is just about 40 years, in the United States, it can reach over 100 years if the punishments for many offenses are put together.
On May 12, 2022, stablecoin UST and the crypto asset LUNA of the Terra Ecosystem crashed in a matter of days, widely recognized as the most turbulent event in the history of the crypto market.
Traders’ confidence was severely damaged by the surplus supply of LUNA and the quick depegging of UST. Both assets’ prices fell sharply as a result, and they were removed from major exchanges.