Terraform and Kwon to Pay $4.5 Billion Following Fraud Verdict

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Terraform Labs PTE, Ltd. and Do Kwon agreed to pay more than $4.5 billion following a unanimous jury verdict holding them liable for orchestrating a years-long fraud involving crypto asset securities that led to massive investor losses when the scheme unraveled. A nine-day jury trial in April exposed the extent of the defendants’ lies to victims about the false use of the Terraform blockchain to settle transactions and about the stability of their crypto asset security, UST. The SEC also offered evidence at trial showing that, in May 2022, after UST de-pegged from the U.S. dollar, the price of UST and Terraform’s other tokens plummeted to close to zero.