Since being detained on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into Terra-LUNA, Yoo (full name withheld), the head of general affairs at Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and a close friend of unidentified chief executive officer (CEO) Kwon Do-hyung, or Do Kwon, has been released from custody. According to local sources, Yoo does not dispute his suspected involvement in pricing manipulation utilizing bot programming.
According to sources in the local media, Hong Jin-pyo, the presiding judge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court, has determined that Yoo doesn’t need to be held in custody for an extended period of time.
The judge took into account Yoo’s extent and level of complicity as well as the fact that Yoo is not contesting the claim that he oversaw a bot program used to manipulate Terra-market LUNA’s prices.
The court ruling took into account Yoo’s voluntary return to South Korea after an arrest warrant was issued for him on September 14 and he was currently prohibited from leaving the country.
The judge reportedly took into account the fact that the court hasn’t made up its mind regarding whether Terra’s Luna cryptocurrency (now known as Luna Classic) qualifies as an investment contract security under the Capital Markets Act.
According to Yonhap News, Hong also stated that some of the charges “seem to have been vindicated” and that Yoo’s claimed crime “is quite heavy for it caused a considerable amount of damage to numerous victims.”
“[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,” Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office prosecutor Choi Sung-kook gave an explanation. On Thursday, a bench warrant was issued for Yoo on suspicion of fraud, breaking the Capital Markets Act, and neglect of duty, among other things.
According to legal firm Alband, Lane & Balderrama, a bench warrant, or in Korean, requests that law enforcement take someone into jail because the judge thinks they have shown disrespect for the court.
