"Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. 'Your offense caused real people to lose $40 billion in real money, not some paper loss,' Engelmayer told Kwon, who sat at the defense table in a yellow jail suit. The judge called it 'a fraud on an epic, generational scale' and said Kwon had an 'almost mystical hold' on investors and caused incalculable 'human wreckage.'"
"Victims said the 34-year-old financial technology whiz weaponized their trust to convince them that the investment - secretly propped up by cash infusions - was safe. Kwon, a Stanford graduate known by some as 'the cryptocurrency king,' apologized after listening as victims - one in court and others by telephone - described the scam's toll: wiping out nest eggs, depleting charities and wrecking lives."
Do Kwon received a 15-year prison sentence after a $40 billion collapse revealed his crypto ecosystem to be fraudulent. Victims reported that Kwon, a 34-year-old fintech entrepreneur, weaponized investor trust by presenting an investment secretly supported with cash infusions. Victims described losses that wiped out nest eggs, drained charities, and shattered lives; one victim said he contemplated suicide after his father lost retirement savings. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer rejected both the government's 12-year recommendation and the defense's five-year request as unreasonable, calling the scheme an 'epic, generational' fraud that caused incalculable human wreckage and affected possibly a million victims.
Read at Fast Company
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