South Korean prosecutors call on Interpol to issue Red Notice for Do Kwon

South Korean prosecutors have asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice against Do Kwon, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency operator Terraform Labs, alleging he is refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the $40 billion implosion of the terraUSD and Luna tokens.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office said Monday it had asked the Seoul Foreign Ministry to cancel Kwon's South Korean passport because he was "obviously on the run and has no intention of appearing before us for questioning."

“We have begun the process of putting him on Interpol’s Red Notice List and revoking his passport,” prosecutors said, adding that Kwon had not cooperated in the investigation into his company’s collapse.

An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement agencies worldwide to "locate and temporarily arrest an individual awaiting extradition, surrender, or similar legal action," according to Interpol's website. Red notices are issued to fugitives who are wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence.

Prosecutors said Kwon told investigators through his lawyer that he did not want to immediately respond to their subpoena.

Prosecutors said he dissolved the South Korean unit of Terraform Labs and left for Singapore in late April.

“We are doing our best to locate and arrest him,” an office spokesman said. “He is clearly on the run as his company’s key financial people also left for the same country during this time.”

I'm not "on the run" or anything like that - for any government agency that has shown an interest in communicating, we are in full cooperation and we have nothing to hide

– Mach Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

Kwon could not be reached for comment. Kwon's lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last week, a South Korean court issued arrest warrants against Kwon and five others linked to Terraform Labs for violating the country's capital markets laws, saying they were in Singapore.

Singapore police said on Saturday that Kwon was not currently in the city-state but they were assisting the South Korean investigation.

After the arrest warrants were issued, Kwon denied that he was on the run. "I'm not 'on the run' or anything like that - for any government agency that has shown interest in communicating, we are cooperating fully and have nothing to hide," Kwon wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

“We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions – we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity and look forward to clarifying the truth in the coming months.”

South Korean prosecutors have accused Kwon of financial fraud and are investigating him and his company after two complaints were filed on behalf of 81 investors over allegations that the company deceived investors.