Entrepreneur who touched off 2022 crypto market crash pleads guilty to fraud

Do Kwon, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur who designed a pair of digital currencies that failed spectacularly in 2022, triggering a market meltdown, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of fraud.

- NATALLIE ROCHA

Ata hearing in federal court in New York, Kwon pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud, and one count of committing wire fraud, according to court records. Judge Paul A. Engelmayer agreed to the defendant's plea, according to Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office in Manhattan.

Kwon agreed to forfeit more than $19 million in proceeds from his crypto dealings, Mr Biase said.

If the judge decides to enforce the maximum penalty, Kwon could face 25 years in prison. But as part of the plea agreement, Mr Biase said, the government would not ask the judge for a sentence of more than 12 years.