Do Kwon does not plead guilty" Judge: The most complex case of his career, the trial date is set for January 2026

The criminal fraud case of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon is tentatively scheduled for trial in New York, USA, in January 2026 due to the need to deal with a large amount of evidence. Prosecutors said they still face challenges in cracking the encryption device and translating Korean documents, delaying the case. (Synopsis: Do Kwon has been extradited to the United States!) Facing $40 billion LUNA fraud charges) (background added: Finally? Montenegro's Ministry of Justice ordered Do Kwon to be extradited to the United States, and Terra's founder's dream of returning to South Korea was shattered) During a preliminary hearing in the U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on the 8th, lead prosecutor Jared Lenow pointed out that Montenegrin authorities handed over four mobile phones containing encryption data when extraditing Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the United States, which needed to be unlocked to obtain evidence. In addition, some key materials were recorded in Korean, and the prosecution had to translate these documents into English for trial, further lengthening the preparation time. Remarks: Earlier, Do Kwon pleaded not guilty to nine counts at his first court appearance in New York and agreed to remain in custody pending trial. Judge Paul Engelmayer said the scale and challenges of the case made him "unprecedented" in his career to set a trial date of Jan. 26, 2026, and encouraged Do Kwon to plead guilty. He also asked Do Kwon's defense attorneys if they would consider bringing the trial forward to 2025, but would have to respond to the court within a week. Do Kwon, who denied all criminal charges in a preliminary trial last week, is currently being held in a New York detention center. He had previously served 22 months in prison in Montenegro. The next status meeting of the case is scheduled for March 6, when there will be more further progress. 6 TB of evidence: increased trial complexity The case involved up to 6 TB of evidence, including emails, Slack messages, internal Terraform Labs data, cryptocurrency transaction data, social media posts, and Do Kwon's unpublished video statements, some of which came from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and several cryptocurrency exchanges, the sheer volume of data has become one of the major challenges for prosecutors and defenses. AUSA: We have seized devices. Six terabytes more of content. It's massive. Email, Slack, trading data in Terraform and crypto currencies, from exchanges – and from the SEC, the CFTC. Social media. Blog posts. Video statements from Mr. Kwon, some not public — Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 8, 2025 Terra/LUNA crash sparks a string of lawsuits Do Kwon faces nine criminal charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodity fraud and Money Laundering conspiracy, caused in 2022 The collapse of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem resulted in an estimated $40 billion in investor losses. In addition, Do Kwon and Terraform Labs were subject to a civil fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC in 2023 and were ordered to pay a total of $4.5 billion in fines and damages, of which Kwon personally paid $200 million. Terraform Labs subsequently filed for bankruptcy. Related reports Do Kwon has been extradited to the United States! Facing $40 billion LUNA fraud charges finally? Montenegro's Ministry of Justice ordered Do Kwon to extradite to the United States, Terra founder's dream of returning to South Korea shattered This time is true? Montenegrin court rules Don Kwon's extradition to South Korea "Do Kwon pleads not guilty" Judge: The most complicated case in his career, the trial date is set for January 2026 This article was first published in BlockTempo's "Dynamic Trend - The Most Influential Block Chain News Media".