NEW YORK (AP) — Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon weaponized investors' trust, convincing them that his company's artificially propped up crypto ecosystem was safe before a $40 billion crash wiped out nest eggs and money for charities, college tuition, rent and other bills, victims said at his sentencing hearing Thursday.

Kwon, known by some as "the cryptocurrency king," listened as victims — one in court and others by telephone — described the scam's personal toll. He pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs' $40 billion crash.

The loss was greater than the combined losses caused by FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and OneCoin co-founder Karl Sebastian Greenwood's multi-level-marketing scheme, prosecutors said.

Sentencing guidelines re

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