Author: Turner Wright, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed another lawsuit against Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon after he was extradited to the United States from Montenegro. Allegation: Money laundering conspiracy.

In a superseding indictment unsealed on January 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams charged Kwon with conspiring with others to launder money.

Terraform co-founders facilitated more than $10,000 in transactions on the platform "knowingly that certain financial transactions involved property that represented the proceeds of some form of illegal activity," according to U.S. prosecutors.

Do Kwon’s superseding indictment was unsealed on January 2. Source: Courtlistener

The money laundering charges are part of a superseding indictment that was not originally filed as part of the eight-count indictment against Kwon in March 2023. Prosecutors filed the indictment under seal in May 2024, and a judge ordered it unsealed when Kwon appeared in court on Jan. 2.

Kwon was allegedly involved in the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022, and he was arrested and jailed in Montenegro in 2023 for using forged travel documents. U.S. and South Korean authorities filed competing petitions to extradite the Terraform co-founder, but Montenegrin authorities did not decide on his legal status until December 2024, when Kwon was handed over to U.S. officials.

The Terraform co-founder appeared in court on January 2 and pleaded not guilty to all charges and agreed to be detained. It is unclear whether U.S. authorities will consider a plea deal or intend to proceed with a criminal trial.

Kwon’s case is similar to that of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried – another cryptocurrency executive who was subject to another ( Bahamas). In SBF's case, his lawyers were able to argue that the campaign finance charge added to the superseding indictment should be dropped because it was not part of the extradition request.

Bankman-Fried was later convicted of seven felonies and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but he has appealed.

Another major industry figure - former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao - pleaded guilty to one charge and will serve four months in prison in 2024.