Do Kwon may plead guilty to cryptocurrency fraud today

In the United States, the case against Terraform Labs co-founder До Квон" href="https://noworries.news/biography/do-kvon/" data-bio-id="3665">Do Kwon is approaching a key stage: Federal Judge Paul Engelmeyer of the Southern District of New York has scheduled a special hearing for today, August 12, which may involve a change in his plea position.

Court records show that Kwon will have to make a full statement in the courtroom, outlining the nature of any offenses he is willing to admit to. His lawyers have been instructed to prepare a written version to speed up the procedure.

Do Kwon, extradited from Montenegro late last year after more than a year of legal wrangling, has been held in US custody without bail since December 2024. He had previously denied nine counts of securities fraud, market manipulation, wire fraud, and money laundering. The charges are related to the collapse of the Terra blockchain ecosystem in 2022, which wiped out about $ 40 billion of the cryptocurrency market value.

US prosecutors consider his actions to be key to Terraform’s collapse, while a separate SEC case was settled in 2024 with a $ 4.5 billion settlement agreement that covered fines, disgorgement of illicit funds, and interest. It is unclear whether the lawyers have reached a deal with the prosecution, but the documents mention «productive discussions» in recent months.

Today’s hearing could significantly change the course of the case, which was originally scheduled for a jury trial in January 2026. The developments come amid decisive steps by U.S. law enforcement in high-profile cryptocurrency cases: the same court recently found Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, guilty of running an unregistered money transfer service.