After the collapse of Terra ecosystems’ cryptocurrency, a group of retail investors is looking for Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs.
The “UST Restitution Group” (URG) is a Discord community of 4,400 people who have been trying to locate Terra co-founder Do Kwon.
Members of the gang are searching the internet for clues and exchanging them with one another to locate Kwon, reportedly out of dissatisfaction with the lack of results from law enforcement authorities. The group’s members have speculated that he may live in Russia, Dubai, Azerbaijan, or even on a boat.
Despite the fact that South Korean authorities have taken significant steps to bring Kwon to justice, with a warrant for his arrest issued by a Seoul court on September 14 and Interpol reportedly issuing a “Red Notice” to law enforcement worldwide on September 26 in response to the warrant, these individuals persist in their pursuit of him.
Is Kwon Hiding In Dubai?
On May 16, URG was established as a forum for investors in the Terra ecosystem and a vehicle for filing class action lawsuits on behalf of URG members seeking restitution for TerraClassicUSD (USTC), the so-called stablecoin that depegged from the U.S. dollar.
According to an October 19 story in the Financial Times, one member of URG, Kan Hyung-suk, is planning a trip to Dubai, where many members of the organization think Kwon is hiding. Someone else from the URG was quoted as saying:
“Dubai is friendly to crypto, very international (he would not stand out), and has limited extradition treaties in place. It would seem like the best fit for the 3-5 hour timezone shift apparent in the data.”
26-year-old software programmer Hyung-suk has been a member of the URG since May 26. He formerly worked for Terraform Labs, the firm responsible for creating the Terra blockchain.
Kwon expresses His Mind
A contentious figure after the collapse of the Terra environment, Kwon insists he is not “on the run” and is communicating openly with all government authorities.
On October 19, Laura Shin, a crypto-journalist and the presenter of the Unchained podcast interviewed Kwon and asked him various questions about recent events.
When asked about his location at the time of recording, Kwon speculated that he had left Singapore after the Terra accident for privacy and personal protection, using the theft from his residence as an example.
“It’s not in the interest of being on the run or something like that, that I don’t want to disclose where I live. It’s just that every time the location where I live becomes known, it becomes almost impossible for me to live there.”
Terraform Labs has publicly said that the allegations against Kwon are extremely political and that South Korean prosecutors have widened the concept of financial securities in response to public pressure. During his conversation with Shin, Kwon expressed similar feelings.
