{"id":47848,"date":"2025-08-12T13:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/?p=47848"},"modified":"2025-08-12T13:47:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T10:47:47","slug":"do-kwon-luna-case-guilty-plea-2026-trial-canceled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/do-kwon-luna-case-guilty-plea-2026-trial-canceled\/","title":{"rendered":"Shock Move in Do Kwon Luna Case: Unexpected Announcement!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>Do Kwon,<\/strong> founder of the <strong>Luna stablecoin<\/strong>, announced that he will plead guilty at the hearing scheduled for August 12. The trial planned for January 2026 has been canceled.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The co-founder of <strong>Terraform Labs<\/strong> previously denied charges including securities fraud, <strong>market manipulation<\/strong>, money laundering, and <strong>electronic fraud<\/strong> in January. However, <strong>U.S. District Judge Paul<\/strong> Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York scheduled a conference where Kwon may change his defense. This indicates that Kwon is preparing to alter his position on all or some of the charges.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">After an ongoing restitution case in Montenegro, Do Kwon was extradited to the U.S. Having been held without bail for nearly seven months, Kwon will appear in court before changing his defense. Judge Engelmayer requested Kwon to provide a statement encompassing all elements of the charges he intends to admit. Additionally, he encouraged attorneys to assist Kwon in preparing the defense statement to be read at the hearing.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Critical Steps and Potential Deal in Luna Case<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><strong>The <a href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/do-kwons-extradition-from-montenegro-has-been-postponed-once-again\/\">Terraform Labs<\/a> co-founder<\/strong> was charged due to his role in the $40 billion investor asset collapse in March 2023. Kwon\u2019s lawyers and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office have held productive talks for months. This process is seen as a signal of a possible settlement. At the hearing conference on Tuesday, Kwon will change his defense and announce his new stance regarding the charges.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Recently, the same district court convicted Roman Storm, <strong>co-founder of Tornado Cash<\/strong>, for operating an unlicensed money transfer service. Terraform Labs settled a separate case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024, agreeing to pay around $4.5 billion in penalties and legal sanctions. This ruling stands as the most concrete example of sanctions applied after the Luna ecosystem collapse.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In conclusion, Do Kwon\u2019s admission of guilt on August 12 marks a critical turning point in the case. The cancellation of the January 2026 trial increases the likelihood of a settlement. These developments are crucial for the future of the Luna and Terraform Labs cases.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> <em>You can also freely share your thoughts and comments about the topic in the comment section. Additionally, don\u2019t forget to follow us on our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/coinengineernews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Telegram,\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CoinEngineer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>YouTube<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/coinengineers\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0channels for the latest news and updates.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do Kwon, founder of the Luna stablecoin, announced that he will plead guilty at the hearing scheduled for August 12. The trial planned for January 2026 has been canceled.\u00a0 The co-founder of Terraform Labs previously denied charges including securities fraud, market manipulation, money laundering, and electronic fraud in January. However, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":31213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17469,22274,22277,22279,22275,22280,22276,22278],"class_list":["post-47848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto-news","tag-crypto-fraud-case","tag-do-kwon-plea","tag-luna-collapse-lawsuit","tag-luna-settlement","tag-luna-stablecoin-case","tag-market-manipulation-charges","tag-terraform-labs-trial","tag-u-s-crypto-regulations"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shock Move in Do Kwon Luna Case: Unexpected Announcement! - Coin Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do Kwon will plead guilty in Luna trial on August 12; January 2026 hearing canceled, signaling a major shift in the Terraform Labs case.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/do-kwon-luna-case-guilty-plea-2026-trial-canceled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shock Move in Do Kwon Luna Case: Unexpected Announcement! 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