Do Kwon a wanted man as Interpol issues ‘Red Notice’

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon is facing an international arrest warrant, days after South Korean prosecutors expressed concern that he was “on the run.”

On Monday, South Korea police revealed that they had sought help from Interpol to have the Terra boss arrested. 

According to the details first published by Bloomberg, prosecutors said the international criminal police organisation had issued a Red Notice – a step that designates Kwon as a wanted individual and who now faces arrest in nearly 200 countries.

Do Kwon ‘on the run?’

The Interpol notice comes a few days after Korean police said the Terraform Labs chief was a wanted man, which Invezz reported on 19 September.

As noted at the time, law enforcement in Seoul said they had established that Kwon was not in Singapore – where he has previously been reported to be – and that there was no cooperation with investigators into the multi-billion crypto meltdown of Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST).

Earlier, prosecutors had sought to have Do Kwon’s passport revoked in a bid to have him return to South Korea.

In early May this year, as the bear market gripped crypto, the algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its dollar peg and collapsed within days, with a spiral impact on LUNA token. (What happened to UST? Read more). But basically, over $60 billion worth of the Terra cryptocurrencies flushed down the drain as LUNA and UST holders globally lost their investments.

The impact across the market was also massive as the contagion spread, with LUNA going to zero catalysing the demise of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and in turn multiple crypto lending platforms. At the centre of the investigations that have followed is Kwon, reportedly now in hiding.

However, as highlighted in our 19 September news report, Kwon refuted the claims that he was on the run. He claimed via his Twitter account that he and other Terra executives were indeed looking forward to “clarifying the truth over the next few months.”

Interpol and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have a joint asset recovery initiative, which could apply in Do Kwon’s if he has assets that might be deemed criminal proceeds.

As of going to press, a search of wanted persons on the Interpol website did not return Do Kwon’s name.