Do Kwon, the founder of the collapsed Luna and TerraUSD tokens, said he’s not “on the run” hours after Singapore police stated he was no longer in the country.
Kwon, along with five others, is facing arrest in South Korea. As recently as Sept. 14, the prosecutor’s office in Seoul said he and the others, who are accused of violations of capital markets law, were all in Singapore. After local police issued a statement Saturday, Kwon tweeted that he doesn’t have anything to hide and is in “full cooperation” with government agencies.
“For any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide,” Kwon said, without providing specifics on his whereabouts. “We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions — we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months.”
Korean prosecutors refuted his comments on Sunday and alleged Do Kwon is “obviously on the run,” according to Yonhap News Agency. He had plans to flee the country before the collapse of the Luna token in May, the report said. Prosecutors said Kwon is not cooperating with probes and he told investigators via an attorney he had no intention to appear before them for questioning, Yonhap said, citing people it didn’t identify.
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office could not be reached outside of normal business hours in Seoul on Sunday. Kwon didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on the Yonhap report.
The South Korean prosecutor’s office is also seeking permission from the country’s foreign ministry to have Kwon’s passport revoked. If that happens, Kwon would have to return to Seoul within 14 days, according to policy.
Singapore police told Bloomberg they will assist the Korean National Police Agency “within the ambit of our domestic legislation and international obligations.” Kwon has a Singapore employment pass which is due to expire Dec. 7, the Straits Times reported Saturday. An application to renew or apply for a new pass is pending approval, the paper said.
Kwon also applied for an EntrePass — which is meant to allow eligible foreign entrepreneurs to start and operate businesses in Singapore — and was rejected, the Straits Times said, citing Ministry of Manpower records.
Kwon found himself at the center of one of crypto’s biggest blowups when TerraUSD, also known as UST, crumbled from its dollar peg and brought down the ecosystem he had built. The $60 billion wipeout also saw the implosion of a related token known as Luna. The collapse in May shook faith in the digital-asset sector, which has yet to recover much of the losses.
–With assistance from Sohee Kim.
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