Fugitive crypto tycoon Do Kwon is facing charges from US currency officials after apparently cashing USD 100 million worth of Bitcoin through a Swiss bank.

Millions of investors have lost fortunes through the collapse of Kwon’s Terra and Luna tokens, which lost 99 per cent of their value virtually overnight,

Now the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against Singapore-based Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon, 31.

The complaint – filed on 16th February – followed Kwon and his firm allegedly transferring more than 10,000 Bitcoin to a cold wallet, a secure storage device.

Then it is alleged, they creamed off about USD 100 million (GBP 82,7 million) in cash via a Swiss Bank in May last year before disappearing.

Do Kwon’s company Terraform Labs was behind the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) that was depleted from the US dollar in May 2022.

The action then rapidly sent the token that was used to stabilise TerraUSD, luna (LUNA) downhill, after which crypto exchange company FTX completely collapsed.

Soon after Interpol issued a red notice and asked law enforcement agencies worldwide to find and arrest Do Kwon.

His native South Korea also issued an arrest warrant against him in September 2022.

Do Kwon then denied that he is hiding through a Twitter post, but has not revealed his whereabouts.

He was reportedly last seen in Serbia a few months ago.

Prosecutors also issued arrest warrants for five other people who were connected to the alleged scam.

They claimed that the fraudulent scheme led to losses of at least 40 billion (GBP 33 million).

De Kwon and his company were now charged with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for a host of crypto asset securities, most notably for LUNA and Terra USD.

“We also allege that they committed fraud by repeating false and misleading statements to build trust before causing devastating losses for investors.

“I commend the SEC’s hard-working staff who remained vigilant in such an important investigation, even when the defendants attempted to prevent us from obtaining important information about their business.

“This case demonstrates the lengths to which some crypto firms will go to avoid complying with the securities laws, but it also demonstrates the strength and commitment of the SEC’s dedicated public servants.”

Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement Gurbir S. Grewal said: “Today’s action not only holds the defendants accountable for their roles in Terra’s collapse, which devastated both retail and institutional investors and sent shock waves through the crypto markets, but once again highlights that we look to the economic realities of an offering, not the labels put on it.

“As alleged in our complaint, the Terraform ecosystem was neither decentralised, nor financed.

“It was simply a fraud propped up by a so-called algorithmic ‘stablecoin’ – the price of which was controlled by the defendants, not any code.”