Yoo (full name was not revealed), the head of general affairs at Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and close associate of unlocated chief executive officer (CEO) Kwon Do-hyung, or Do Kwon, has been released from custody since being arrested Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into Terra-LUNA. Yoo is not contending his alleged association with price manipulation using bot programming, according to local reports.
See related article: South Korea makes first arrest in Terra-LUNA investigation
Fast facts
- Hong Jin-pyo, the presiding judge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court, has decided that there isn’t a significant need to keep Yoo in custody, according to local media reports.
- The judge took into consideration the scope and degree of Yoo’s involvement as an accomplice and the fact that Yoo is not contending the allegation that he managed a bot program used to manipulate the market prices of Terra-LUNA.
- The fact that Yoo voluntarily returned to South Korea after having the arrest warrant issued on him on Sept. 14 and currently being banned from traveling abroad, was taken into account in the court decision.
- It was also reported that the judge considered the fact that the court has not landed on a firm decision on whether Terra’s Luna (now Luna Classic) cryptocurrency is an investment contract security under the Capital Markets Act.
- Meanwhile Hong also acknowledged that Yoo’s alleged crime “is very heavy for it caused a large amount of damage to many victims,” and that some of the charges “seem to have been vindicated,” according to Yonhap News.
- “[The prosecutors] issued the warrant based on the risk of [the suspect] escaping and destroying evidence, and we are considering the re-issuance of the warrant,” Choi Sung-kook, prosecutor at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office told Forkast. The bench warrant on Yoo was made Thursday on charges of fraud, violation of the Capital Markets Act and breach of duty among others.
- A bench warrant, or 구속영장 in Korean, asks law enforcement to bring an individual into custody as the judge believes they have demonstrated contempt for the court, according to law firm Alband, Lane & Balderrama.
See related article: Terra CEO Do Kwon to lose his passport within a month