Terra Witness Skips Official Inquiry, Cites 'Extreme Stress' and 'Panic Disorder'

Kim Seo-joon, CEO of venture capital firm Hashed and an early investor in Terra, failed to turn up as a witness before a hearing of the Korean National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, according to a local news report on Monday. 

Seo-joon was one of six witnesses summoned to better investigate the circumstances that led to Terra’s $40 billion collapse back in May. 

In a statement, he said, "After the Luna-Terra incident, I was under extreme stress, and my health deteriorated and I needed to stabilize." The letter also claims Seo-joon is suffering from “anxiety” and “panic disorder.”

He enclosed a medical certificate confirming he has been receiving psychiatric treatment since July 29, is under added stress as a result of the medication and counseling regime, and “is in absolute need of emotional stability at this time.” 

On March 14, the Political Affairs Committee selected key officials Kim Seo-joon, Chai Holdco director Shin Hyun-sung, former Bithumb Korea Chairman Lee Jung-hoon, as well as major shareholders in Bithumb Kang Jong-hyun and Dunamu CEO Lee Seok-woo. 

Lee Jung-hoon also submitted a statement of reason for his non-attendance after failing to appear at the National Assembly meeting held on 6 June. 

The former Bithumb chief cited panic disorder and said he is no longer involved in the management of Bithumb.

Terra reckoning

The heat has been rising on Terraform Labs in the wake of USDT’s collapse. 

Headlines emerged in September that a South Korean court had issued an arrest warrant for co-founder Do Kwon for allegedly violating capital market rules (while the Ministry of Finance voided his passport), though Kwon quickly assured followers that he’s not on the lam. 

In September, global police network Interpol issued Do Kwon with a red notice for Kwon although he has yet to appear on the red notice list, which features a total of 7,135 names.

At the beginning of the month, Kwon denied reports that South Korean prosecutors had frozen $39.6 million of his crypto after it was reported by Korean outlet News1. 

The previous month, crypto exchanges OKX and KuCoin had cooperated with authorities to freeze 3,313 Bitcoin linked to Kwon, worth around $62 million at the time.

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A judge in the Seoul Southern District Court in South Korea recently dismissed an arrest warrant for Terraform Labs’ head of general business operations Yoo Mo, citing a lack of necessity for his detainment. At the time of his arrest, Mo was described as a “key aide” to Terra.