Moments before sentencing Do Kwon to 15 years in prison, Judge Paul A. Engelmayer paused, rearranged his papers, and looked down at the disgraced crypto founder with a warmth in his eyes visible from the very back of his cavernous Manhattan courtroom.

Kwon’s “beautifully written” letter to both his four-year-old daughter and the judge, admitting full responsibility for the $40bn collapse of Terraform Labs in 2022, had been “appreciated,” Engelmayer said gently.

Letters sent in ahead of the sentencing by old acquaintances and Kwon’s family and friends attesting to his warmth and generosity prove that “people are complicated,” the judge added on Thursday afternoon, as one former Terraform Labs employee who had clapped Kwon into the courtroom slowly broke down in tears. “I understand why you inspired people.”