Former Tmon CEO faces arrest for taking bribes to promote Terra Classic

After the former CEO of Tmon, a Korean e-commerce platform, was accused of taking billions of won worth of Terra (LUNA), which is now known as Terra Classic (LUNC), in exchange for promoting Terra as a straightforward payment gateway, prosecutors in South Korea have asked for an arrest warrant to be issued for the individual.

According to a report by the Dong-A Ilbo media outlet, the head of the financial and securities joint investigation team at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office requested an arrest warrant for bribery charges to be brought against the former CEO of Tmon, referred to as "Mr. A," as well as a person referred to as "broker B," who worked on lobbying in the financial sector in favor of Terra.

According to the allegations, Mr. A was given LUNC tokens by Shin Hyun-Seong, who is also known as Daniel Shin, the co-founder of Terra. Shin urged Mr. A to actively promote Terra as a straightforward method of payment. Following this event, Tmon began promoting LUNC and spreading the word that the token is a reliable investment. The investigators believe that the advertising were responsible for the price growth of the token since they raised the expectations of investors.

It is speculated that the former CEO of Tmon has profited billions of won from the sale of the LUNC tokens that were obtained in return for the marketing. In addition, the investigation emphasized that in spite of warnings from financial regulators, Shin has apparently contributed money to other businesses such as Tmon to promote LUNC as a secure payment mechanism. This was one of the points that was underlined in the research.

On November 14, prosecutors in South Korea made an official request for Shin to assist with the investigation into the collapse of the Terra. The police said that Shin had been in possession of LUNC tokens without the knowledge of the investors and had made illicit transactions totaling more than 105 million dollars prior to the collapse of the firm.

The prosecutors who are in charge of the case have been continually broadening the scope of their investigations and focusing their attention on additional individuals implicated. On the 30th of November in the year 2022, the authorities in South Korea issued an arrest order for Shin, along with three investors in Terra and four engineers responsible for the project.