South Korean authorities seize $160 million of assets in connection with Terraform Labs’ collapse

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office has reportedly seized around $160 million worth of assets from eight individuals associated with Terraform Labs, including co-founder Daniel Shin. According to an April 3 report from South Korean news outlet KBS, the authorities confiscated approximately 210 billion won, which is equivalent to $160 million. Also, the properties were reportedly connected to former Terra employees and consisted mainly of real estate, with prosecutors taking control of houses and properties owned by former Terra Vice President Kim Mo and an unnamed executive worth approximately $60 million and $31 million, respectively.

The prosecution team spokesperson stated, “We are still investigating the property ownership status of the suspects, and we plan to carry out collection preservation for the confirmed property in the future in order to recover the proceeds of crime and recover damages.”

Furthermore, the prosecutors’ actions were reportedly aimed at preventing former Terra employees from disposing of assets to ensure that they were part of potential criminal proceedings. In November, authorities seized Shin’s home in Seoul in similar measures, and they are reportedly still investigating other assets allegedly connected to the Terra co-founder.

No South Korean court had authorized an arrest warrant for Shin before his reported detention in the United States. No reports have indicated whether any crypto assets were seized as part of the investigation. Following the collapse of the platform, Do Kwon, co-founder of Terra, was arrested in Montenegro in March. The Montenegrin Justice minister Marko Kovač announced on March 29 that the country had received requests from both the United States and South Korea to take Kwon into custody.