Terra founder Do Kwon asks court to delay SEC trial for personal appearance: report

The legal defense team representing Terra LUNA +5.53% form Labs co-founder and former chief Do Hyeong Kwon has asked a U.S. court to push back the Securities and Exchange Commission trial against him, as stated in a Thursday filing first seen by Inner City Press .  

“It now appears that Mr. Kwon is not likely to be extradited until February or March at the earliest,” the letter said. “[An] adjournment until mid-March would provide a realistic possibility for Mr. Kwon to attend.”

In the case Kwon’s request is denied, the former Terra leader intends to request the court to give the jury an instruction that details his absence and inability to testify in a way that is “not unduly prejudicial.”

In December, the appeals court in Montenegro canceled the approved extradition of Kwon to South Korea and the U.S., while the SEC trial against Kwon and Terraform Labs is scheduled for Jan. 29. 

The SEC charged Terraform Labs and then-CEO Kwon last February over its algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD, which collapsed in May 2022. The agency alleged that Kwon and Terraform orchestrated a "multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud." South Korean prosecutors also accused Kwon and Terra affiliates of similar charges.

Kwon was arrested in March last year at a Montenegrin airport for attempting to travel with forged documents.