• Do Kwon received a 15-year prison sentence in a New York district court on Thursday.
• The Terraform Labs founder pleaded guilty in August to fraud charges relating to the $40 billion collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem.
• Prosecutors had recommended a 12-year prison sentence, highlighting Kwon's misconduct after organizing a large-scale fraud.

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a New York federal court on Thursday for his role in organizing one of the largest cryptocurrency frauds in history.

Kwon pleaded guilty in August to fraud charges stemming from the $40 billion collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem in May 2022, which sparked the crypto bear market that year.

US District Judge Paul Engelmayer handed down the sentence in Manhattan federal court, exceeding the 12-year prison term recommended by federal prosecutors. Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence, while Kwon asked for a 5-year term.

During the hearing, Engelmayer criticized Kwon's actions. "You were not a kid. You were not somebody who didn't know what was going on," the judge stated, Inner City Press reported. Engelmayer emphasized that Kwon had created a "house of cards" that was destined to collapse.

"Five years would be so implausible it would require appellate reversal [...] In the end, my assessment is that a prison sentence above 12 years is needed: 15 years," said Engelmayer.

In his statement to the court, Kwon expressed contrition for his actions. "I am sorry to those who were hurt by my actions," said Kwon. However, his apology came more than two years after the collapse and following his guilty plea as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Kwon fled after UST-LUNA collapsed in 2022

The Terra-Luna ecosystem, which Kwon founded and aggressively promoted, centered on the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and its sister token, LUNA. The project collapsed in May 2022 when UST lost its peg to the US Dollar, triggering a death spiral that wiped about $40 billion in market value within days.

Kwon had repeatedly assured investors of the system's stability even as warning signs emerged. Following the collapse, Kwon fled South Korea to Montenegro, where he was eventually arrested in March 2023 while attempting to board a flight to Dubai with a fake passport.

After months of extradition battles between the United States and South Korea, Kwon was ultimately extradited to New York to face fraud charges. 

Kwon's sentencing follows that of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.