Daniel Shin, the cofounder of Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., also known as Shin Hyun-seung, told South Korean prosecutors during an investigation on Thursday that he did not sell LUNA, now LUNC cryptocurrency, at a high point, local media outlet Global Economy Newspaper reported.
See related article: South Korea freezes Terra cofounder Daniel Shin’s US$104 mln in assets; CEO Do Kwon tweets he was wrong, not fraudulent
Fast facts
- Shin reportedly said he sold more than 70% of his LUNA tokens before its price surged, and held a fairly significant amount of LUNA during the collapse of Terra stablecoin and sister LUNA token in May.
- South Korean prosecutors stated Monday they summoned the Shin based on accusations that the Terra cofounder earned ill-gotten profits of 140 billion Korean won (about US$104 million) by selling off LUNA he stored pre-issuance, without proper disclosure, at a high point.
- On Thursday, South Korea’s Seoul Southern District Court approved prosecutors’ request to freeze some US$104 million in assets allegedly belonging to Shin.
- Shin is also accused of using the personal information of customers at Chai Corporation, a South Korea-based payments tech company that he established in 2019, to promote Terraform Labs without consent.
- Meanwhile, Shin and Chai Corporation have repeatedly denied any claims of involvement in the Terra-LUNA collapse, saying they cut ties with the project in 2020.
- Shin returned to the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday following Thursday’s questioning, according to local media reports.
- The South Korean prosecutors’ office investigating Shin has not immediately responded to Forkast’s request for further details, while a Chai spokesperson declined to comment or confirm the reports. It remains undisclosed how much Shin lost during the Terra-LUNA collapse.
See related article: Terra cofounder Daniel Shin’s Chai Corp. raided by S.Korean authorities