Former Hodlnaut CEO charged with fraud over Terra claims

A former cryptocurrency executive has been charged with fraud in Singapore over statements made following the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin in 2022. Zhu Juntao, the 36-year-old former chief executive of the now-defunct crypto lending platform Hodlnaut, faces six counts of fraud by false representation.

The charges, announced by the Singapore Police Force's Commercial Affairs Department, allege that between May and July 2022, Zhu directed employees to make misleading statements to users. According to police, these statements, issued in the company's official Telegram group and in emails, falsely asserted that Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to TerraUSD (UST) and had not suffered losses from its crash. Authorities also state that Zhu published three similar posts on his personal social media account in June 2022.

Zhu faces three charges under Section 424A of Singapore's Penal Code and three further charges under the same provision read with Section 109, which covers abetment. If convicted on each charge, he could face up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or both.

The case revives scrutiny of one of the most damaging episodes of the 2022 digital asset market downturn. The Terra...