US judge rejects Do Kwon’s request to block SEC from accessing documents

U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff denied Do Kwon’s request to block the SEC from accessing documents related to Terraform Labs (TFL) and Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) on April 14, according to court filings.

The SEC recently requested the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide documents related to the aforementioned companies after officially beginning enforcement action against Kwon.

However, Rakoff said the request held no merit and rejected the appeal during a hearing held via a telephone conference. It is unclear whether the Singaporean watchdog has handed over the documents to the SEC as of press time.

Both regulators did not respond to requests for comment.

The SEC case

The SEC filed an official complaint against Kwon and TFL on Feb. 16.

The charges levied against Kwon are myriad and primarily focus on fraud and unregistered securities sales.

According to the regulator, the LUNA cryptocurrency is a security and was illegally issued and promoted by Kwon to investors both within and without the U.S.

The filing claims that Kwon knowingly and intentionally misled investors on numerous occasions for the sake of profiteering from the scheme. Additionally, Kwon misled investors about the operational nature of the algorithmic stablecoin UST.

According to the complaint, the May 2021 de-peg of UST was restored by borrowing money from an outside investor, but Kwon lied to investors and claimed that it was the algorithmic stablecoin’s “self-healing nature.”

This caused more money to flow into the project, which ultimately suffered another depeg a year later — but this time, with no outside savior, the stablecoin imploded.

The SEC is seeking a jury trial on all charges triable.

Do Kwon extradition

Kwon was arrested in Montenegro on March 24 after being on the run for almost a year.

According to reports at the time, he was trying to fly to Dubai and was arrested by local authorities over fake identification documents.

Kwon is facing charges in his home country of South Korea, as well as the U.S. — with both countries seeking extradition.

However, it is unclear which country Kwon will be extradited to, or when, as authorities in Montenegro want him to serve time in the country.

Meanwhile, Singapore launched a formal investigation into TFL in January and may want to levy its own charges against Kwon.