Terra Employees Banned from Leaving South Korea

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Prosecutors in South Korea have ordered all employees of Terra to remain in the country as they investigate allegations of fraud. This comes as a major blow to the company, which has seen its stock prices plummet in recent weeks.

The travel ban has been imposed to prevent Terra employees from fleeing the country to avoid investigation, according to JTBC.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office levied the departure ban in connection with the ongoing investigation against Terraform Labs for its role in the collapse of TerraUSD(UST).

JTBC reported that Terra founder and CEO Do Kwon is currently residing in Singapore. Therefore, the prosecutor’s office is looking to invalidate Kwon’s passport before further investigation. The prosecutors are also exploring whether Kwon and other Terra employees can be charged with crimes such as fraud.

The travel ban encompasses even former employees of Terra, as pointed out by Daniel Hong, a former developer at Terra.

stop asking me why i couldn’t make it to NYC frens, this is why: the Korean government imposed an exit ban for all ex-@terra_money employees today pic.twitter.com/5Jds99ZNwQ

— Daniel Hong 🪄 (@unifiedh) June 20, 2022

In the short Twitter thread, Hong went on to say that he and other employees were not notified about the ban. When Hong contacted the prosecutor’s office, he was informed that such bans are not announced to prevent investigation targets from destroying evidence.

Hong said that being treated as “potential criminals” is “absolutely outrageous and unacceptable.” He added that the travel ban might lead some employees to change their minds about cooperating with the authorities.

South Korean authorities launched investigations into Terraform Labs and its employees after the collapse of UST and its sister token LUNA, which left over 200,000 Koreans affected.

In addition, South Korea’s top crypto exchanges have agreed to form a consultative body to ensure stringent coin listing rules and avoid a repeat of the Terra-LUNA fiasco.