Former Hodlnaut CEO Charged in Singapore Over Alleged False Claims About UST Losses

Singapore authorities have charged Zhu Juntao, the former CEO of defunct crypto lender Hodlnaut, with six counts of fraud by false representation over allegations that he misled users about the company’s exposure to TerraUSD and losses after the token’s collapse in 2022.

In a statement Tuesday, the Singapore Police Force said Zhu, 36, was charged in court on May 26 after an investigation by its Commercial Affairs Department. Prosecutors allege that between May and July 2022, Zhu caused misleading statements to be published in Hodlnaut’s official Telegram group and in official emails to users, saying the company did not have direct exposure to TerraUSD, also known as UST, and/or had not suffered losses from the crash. SPF also alleged that Zhu instigated employees to make similar statements and posted three messages on his personal Twitter/X account in June 2022 making comparable claims.

Channel NewsAsia reported that Zhu told the court he was not guilty and disputed all charges. CNA, citing the charge particulars, reported that one alleged statement said: “Hodlnaut as a firm did not take any losses on UST, users who held/bought UST on our platform did.”

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or both, according to SPF. The police said, “Following investigations by the Commercial Affairs Department of the Singapore Police Force, the former Chief Executive Officer of the now-defunct cryptocurrency platform, Hodlnaut, Zhu Juntao (‘Zhu’), aged 36, was charged in court today (26 May 2026) for fraud by false representation.”

The case centers on statements allegedly made after the May 2022 collapse of TerraUSD, a so-called stablecoin whose failure helped trigger broader stress across crypto lenders. Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto lending platform, was among the firms hit. Before it became defunct in August 2022, SPF said, the platform had more than 30,000 users worldwide.

The alleged statements are significant because they were made in public and customer-facing channels during a period of market turmoil. Hodlnaut halted withdrawals, deposits and token swaps on Aug. 8, 2022, leaving users unable to access their assets.

A later court filing painted a sharply different picture of the company’s exposure. In an August 2022 affidavit reported by The Block, Hodlnaut said it had about $317 million parked in UST and Anchor, a Terra-linked yield platform, and had realized about $189.7 million in losses related to the UST collapse. Those figures have not been presented here as findings in Zhu’s criminal case, but as background that prosecutors appear to be contrasting with the statements they say were made to users and the public.

Hodlnaut later entered interim judicial management, a court-supervised restructuring process, on Aug. 29, 2022, according to EY documents. It was placed into liquidation on Nov. 10, 2023. CNA reported that a pretrial conference in Zhu’s case was set for June 2026.

The charges are allegations, and Zhu has not been found guilty.