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Zhu allegedly directed unit to people mendacious claims that Hodlnaut had nary nonstop vulnerability to the TerraUSD illness connected Telegram and successful lawsuit emails.
May 27, 2026, 11:51 a.m. 2 min read
Singapore authorities person charged the erstwhile CEO of collapsed crypto lender Hodlnaut Zhu Juntao with fraud, astir 4 years aft the steadfast froze withdrawals during the illness of the TerraUSD ecosystem.
The Singapore Police Force said that Zhu faces six charges of fraud by mendacious representation successful an announcement connected Tuesday. Prosecutors allege Zhu directed employees successful 2022 to people mendacious statements connected Hodlnaut’s Telegram channels and successful lawsuit emails claiming the institution had nary nonstop vulnerability to TerraUSD’s collapse, and had not suffered losses arsenic a result.
Authorities besides alleged Zhu repeated akin claims connected his idiosyncratic X account, past known arsenic Twitter, successful 3 posts successful June 2022. If convicted, Zhu could look up to 20 years successful prison, fines, oregon some connected each complaint nether Singapore law.
Zhu disputed each six charges successful tribunal and was fixed a pre-trial league day successful June 2026, according to section media reports.
Hodlnaut was 1 of respective crypto lenders that failed aft the implosion of Terraform Labs’ algorithmic stablecoin ecosystem successful May 2022. The illness erased astir $40 cardinal from the crypto marketplace and contributed to failures astatine firms including Three Arrows Capital, Celsius and Voyager.
Reports filed during Hodlnaut's restructuring proceedings indicated the institution had channelled astir $317 cardinal of idiosyncratic funds into Terra's Anchor Protocol, which was offering astir 19.5% successful annualized output connected UST deposits earlier the collapse, which saw UST become astir worthless.
Court-appointed judicial managers aboriginal estimated Hodlnaut lost astir $189.7 million from vulnerability to the Terra collapse. Reports reviewed during restructuring proceedings said the institution had mediocre interior recordkeeping and that immoderate executives did not afloat cooperate with investigators.
Singapore-based Hodlnaut, which was founded successful 2019, offered customers yield-bearing crypto accounts and served much than 30,000 users globally earlier halting withdrawals successful August 2022.
The institution aboriginal entered judicial absorption and was ordered into liquidation by the Singapore High Court.
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