Menu

Categories:

Hot right now:

Follow on:

Coinsurges provides coverage of fintech, blockchain, and Bitcoin, delivering the most recent news and analyses on the future of money. Stay up-to-date with live prices, charts, and trading options for the top exchanges. Keep track of the day's top cryptocurrency gainers and losers, as well as which coins have experienced gains and losses in the past 24 hours.
Trust Coinsurges as your go-to source for all news and updates in the industry.

Menu

Categories:

Hot right now:

Follow on:

Coinsurges provides coverage of fintech, blockchain, and Bitcoin, delivering the most recent news and analyses on the future of money. Stay up-to-date with live prices, charts, and trading options for the top exchanges. Keep track of the day's top cryptocurrency gainers and losers, as well as which coins have experienced gains and losses in the past 24 hours.
Trust Coinsurges as your go-to source for all news and updates in the industry.

SEC seeking $5.3 billion in fines from Terraform Labs, Do Kwon

Share This Post

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants nearly $5.3 billion in fines from Terraform Labs and its former CEO, Do Kwon for violations of the US securities laws and charges of fraud.

The agency detailed its requested fines in an April 19 legal filing. The SEC is primarily seeking $4.2 billion in disgorgement plus $545.7 million in prejudgment interest.

The disgorgement aims to have Terraform Labs and Kwon surrender “unjust enrichment” earned from token sales to institutional investors, sales via a Luna Foundation Guard contract with Genesis Asia Pacific, and sales on crypto exchanges between June 2021 and May 2022.

The regulator is also seeking civil penalties, including a $420 million fine against Terraform Labs and a $100 million fine against Kwon.

The SEC said each civil penalty is a small fraction of the defendants’ ill-gotten gains but acts as punishment and deterrence.

Additional restrictions

The SEC also requested nonmonetary remedies, including “obey-the-law” injunctions preventing violations of the Securities Act of 1933 and Exchange Act of 1934.

Additionally, the watchdog intends to impose conduct-based injunctions preventing the defendants from engaging in the purchase, offer, or sale of crypto asset securities, including but not limited to Terra-related tokens such as UST, MIR, LUNA, wLUNA, and LUNA 2.0.

It also aims to prevent the defendants from “inducing” others into such transactions.

Furthermore, it aims to prevent Terraform Labs from discharging its monetary remedies through bankruptcy. The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

The agency also intends to permanently bar Kwon from serving as an officer or director of a publicly held company and compel him to provide a sworn accounting.

Terraform and Kwon respond

The defendants responded to the expected remedies in related filings.

First, Terraform Labs’ legal team said that the court must impose remedies based only on token sales proven to have occurred in the US. It asserted that most conduct and sales happened outside the US and that court proceedings have not yet addressed this matter.

Terraform’s legal team also asserted that the SEC is not entitled to disgorgement because of a lack of pecuniary harm or “out-of-pocket loss.”

Kwon and his legal representation also argued a lack of pecuniary harm and denied there is evidence that Kwon received ill-gotten gains separately from Terraform Labs. The relevant filing reads:

“There are no illegal profits for Mr. Kwon to disgorge.”

Both parties asserted that maximum civil penalties should be lower than the SEC’s requested amounts. In one estimate, Terraform Labs’ defense suggested a maximum civil penalty of $3.5 million, while Kwon’s defense suggested a civil penalty below $1 million.

Both parties also argued that injunctions are unwarranted and suggested that further offenses are unlikely based on current circumstances.

The SEC initially filed charges against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon in February 2023. The trial began in March, and the court found both parties liable for fraud in April.

The post SEC seeking $5.3 billion in fines from Terraform Labs, Do Kwon appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Read Entire Article
spot_img
- Advertisement -spot_img

Related Posts

XRP Price Suppressed By ‘Dark Pools,’ Crypto Pundit Claims

The recent stagnation in XRP’s spot price may owe less to waning market interest than to a surge in off-exchange trading, according to crypto pundit and Digital Ascension Group managing director

Markets Bet on Fed Pause in May Even as Trump Rattles the Cage

On April 12—just over two weeks prior—expectations surrounding a potential cut to the federal funds rate were in flux, with markets assigning a 398% probability that the US Federal Reserve would

Breaking: Circle Rejected Ripple Takeover Bid of $4-5B

The post Breaking: Circle Rejected Ripple Takeover Bid of $4-5B appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News Circle ostensibly turned down the offer since it was too low based on its market value and

Solana Policy Institute, Superstate, and Orca seek SEC approval for securities trading on public blockchains

A coalition led by the Solana Policy Institute, decentralized exchange Orca, and registered investment adviser Superstate has filed a request with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to

‘Elderly’ American Allegedly Loses 3,520 BTC in Sophisticated Crypto Heist, Says ZachXBT

Two days prior, onchain analyst ZachXBT noted that the value of XMR climbed following the theft of 3,520 BTC from a single victim By Wednesday, he suggested the wallet’s owner might be “an

Bitcoin Whales Hedge Their Bets As Short Interest In BTC Spikes – What Does This Mean For Price?

After breaking past the pivotal $90,000 mark, Bitcoin’s price has remained strongly above this threshold, recording notable gains in the past few days However, the renewed upward trend is now