Tokentalknews- In New York, former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud over the 2022 collapse of TerraUSD and Luna, which erased more than $40B in value and triggered a wider crypto market crash. Prosecutors say he secretly arranged trades to restore TerraUSD’s $1 peg while falsely claiming its algorithm maintained stability. Under a plea deal, prosecutors will seek no more than 12 years in prison, though the judge may impose up to 25 years. Kwon will forfeit up to $19.3M, surrender properties, pay restitution, and still faces charges in South Korea. This demonstrates that ransomware gangs, even those using Bitcoin for cross-border extortion, are increasingly vulnerable to coordinated law enforcement efforts and blockchain tracing.

Meanwhile, in a coordinated global operation, US and foreign agencies dismantled the BlackSuit ransomware gang, seizing servers, domains, and about $1M in cryptocurrency tied to ransom payments. BlackSuit, linked to the Conti group and a successor to Royal ransomware, has targeted over 450 US organizations across healthcare, government, manufacturing, and education sectors since 2022, demanding more than $370M in ransoms. The seized crypto was traced to a 2023 ransom of 49.3 BTC, with most recovered in early 2024 through cooperation with crypto exchanges. This level of coordination reduces the ability of cybercriminals and fraudulent founders to hide behind jurisdictional loopholes.

It is likely to see faster asset recovery timelines in ransomware cases as crypto tracing technology evolves as swift and decisive enforcement boosts institutional confidence.