The Montenegrin government has rejected South Korea’s request to extradite the Terraform Labs founder to his home country, and it appears he is headed to the United States!
Montenegro’s Supreme Court in Podgorica today approved the extradition of Terra founder Kwon Do-do to the United States, as reported by local publication Pobjeda. With this ruling, the legal pursuit surrounding Mr. Kwon’s extradition to Korea and the United States has also ended.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported in December last year that Montenegro’s highest judicial officer planned to extradite Do Kwon to the United States instead of Korea. However, the final decision rested with Montenegro’s Minister of Justice, Andrej Milović.
Kwon Do-kwon faces USG
Kwon Do’s defense team, led by lawyer Goran Rodić, previously argued that Kwon Do should be extradited to South Korea based on legal and treaty obligations.
However, while discussing whether to extradite Do-Kwon to South Korea or the United States, Justice Minister Andrej Milovich said that the United States is a key foreign policy partner. Milovic said he favored signing a bilateral extradition treaty to establish a legal framework for future extraditions.
With this court ruling, Mr. Kwon will now be prosecuted in the United States in connection with the multibillion-dollar fraud brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What will happen to that person?
The extradition and criminal charges against Terra’s founder seem to have become a focal point in the cryptocurrency community. U.S. and South Korean prosecutors want to put Kwon on trial on charges of fraud and securities law violations related to the $40 billion collapse in May 2022.
On March 23, Montenegrin authorities said they had arrested Do Kwon and Hang Chang-jun, former chief financial officers of Terraform Labs, who were planning to escape to Dubai using forged documents. They were then detained in the Balkans.
Immediately after news of Mr. Do-Kwon’s arrest became known, U.S. federal prosecutors requested his extradition to New York for trial, and the former CEO was indicted on charges of deceiving investors and manipulating the price of the USTC stablecoin.
Kim Hee-kyung, spokesperson for the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, said, “Korean prosecutors will take steps to repatriate Mr. Do-kwon to his home country.” She also confirmed that they are working on his extradition process.
A person on fire!!!
The U.S. SEC has accused Terraform Labs and its founder of orchestrating a scheme to raise billions of dollars from investors through disguised securities offerings and a large number of unregistered trading assets. The U.S. Department of Justice also indicted Do Kwon on charges of fraud related to LUNA-UST.
Mr. Kwon asked a federal court to dismiss the U.S. SEC’s interrogation order to interrogate him in the U.S. regarding the ecosystem collapse by the end of 2023.
Attorney Kwon’s legal team stated in a document dated September 27 that the SEC’s request to be questioned before October 13 was not feasible. He’ll want to avoid a situation where he could end up disappearing into the American legal system like a side dish at a Korean barbecue restaurant.
This is because he was detained in Montenegro at the time and there was no special release date or extradition schedule. Moreover, Terra’s founder refused to give written testimony to the SEC on the grounds that it violated his procedural rights under U.S. law.
Unlike Mr. Kwon, Kwon Chang-jun was extradited to Korea according to a court ruling earlier this month. He is currently facing criminal charges in the country for financial services, investment and capital markets fraud and could face life in prison.
Luna Classic and Luna are still trading.
Luna Classic (LUNC) and Luna (LUNA) decreased slightly. Data from CoinGecko shows that LUNC is down about 1%, while LUNA is down 2%. What’s even more shocking is that these tokens are still being traded. Is there value in it?
Only time will tell!