Terraform Labs co-founder, Do Kwon, who has been residing in Montenegro since his arrest in March 2023, is set to be extradited to the United States to face charges of fraud. A recent report from Montenegrin news outlet Pobjeda states that the High Court of Podgorica has denied a request to extradite Kwon to South Korea prior to the United States. This decision comes after Kwon’s legal team appealed, arguing that the final decision on his extradition should lie with Montenegro’s Justice Minister, a claim that the high court rejected.
The exact date of Kwon’s travel to the United States is unclear. Following the collapse of Terra in May 2022, his whereabouts remained largely unknown until March 2023, when he was arrested in Montenegro for using falsified travel documents. He was subsequently sentenced to four months in prison and has been involved in extradition proceedings while in custody.
Both U.S. and South Korean authorities have been vying to charge Kwon with fraud related to his time at Terraform. Shortly after his arrest in Montenegro, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed eight criminal charges against the co-founder. Additionally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a civil case against Kwon and Terra, with a trial scheduled for March 25. Both parties are accused of orchestrating a “multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud” in relation to the offering of TerraUSD (UST) and Terra (LUNA).
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