Singapore Charges Former Hodlnaut CEO With Fraud Over Terra Collapse Claims

Singapore authorities have charged Zhu Juntao, the former chief executive officer of bankrupt crypto lender Hodlnaut, with fraud.

Singapore police said on May 27 that Zhu was charged with six counts of fraud by false representation, according to CoinDesk. Prosecutors allege that in 2022 he instructed employees to post false statements on Telegram channels and in customer emails saying Hodlnaut had no direct exposure to the collapse of TerraUSD.

Authorities said Zhu also repeatedly posted similar claims on his personal X account, formerly known as Twitter. Under Singapore law, each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine upon conviction.

Zhu denied all six charges in court and is scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing in June.

Hodlnaut was one of the crypto lenders that failed after the collapse of Terraform Labs' algorithmic stablecoin ecosystem in May 2022. The plunge in TerraUSD and Luna erased about $40 billion in market value and sent shock waves through firms including Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and Voyager.

Court filings show Hodlnaut had deposited about $317 million of customer funds into Terra-based Anchor Protocol. Before the collapse, Anchor offered annual yields of about 19.5% on UST deposits.