Do Kwon Extradition To South Korea Approved By Montenegro Court
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Montenegro’s Appeals Court decided on Thursday that Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, must be sent back to his nation, South Korea. This decision followed an April ruling from the High Court of Podgorica which turned down a request to send Kwon to the U.S. The date for his return to South Korea has not been fixed.
The decision on the 1st of August in Montenegro is the most recent in a long sequence of legal battles for the troubled crypto leader.
South Korea And The US Tried To Get Kwon Sent Back For Financial Crimes
Back in March, after the high court in Montenegro decided to send Kwon back to his country, the top court changed its decision and moved the case to the district court in April.
According to the court statement, there wasn’t any appeal against the previous ruling, so the High Court of Podgorica’s ruling to allow quick extradition to South Korea is final and must be followed.
Terraform Labs, which started in 2018, lost over $40 billion and caused a crash in the cryptocurrency market in May 2022. A few months ago, after its cryptocurrencies failed in 2022, Terraform Labs declared bankruptcy in Delaware.
South Korea and the U.S. have requested that Kwon be sent from Montenegro to deal with charges after he was arrested at the airport carrying false travel documents.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Terraform and Kwon for defrauding U.S. investors who bought its digital currencies, Luna and TerraUSD, in February last year. Kwon is also wanted in South Korea for scam and money crimes connected to the crash of Luna and TerraUSD in May 2022.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in March that it is still working to have Kwon returned, following international agreements and Montenegrin laws.
Terraform Labs Agreed To Pay $4.5 Billion Penalty To US SEC
Kwon was put behind bars in March last year after he tried to fly to Dubai with a fake passport. He was given a four-month jail sentence but stayed in custody until he was bailed out in March 2024.
To end a securities fraud case, Kwon’s now-bankrupt firm agreed to pay a penalty of almost $4.5 billion to the U.S. SEC. The agreement involved Kwon paying $204 million. Terraform Labs also decided to shut down its business. Last month, it started a sale process in its bankruptcy case.
At first, the US regulator wanted $5.3 billion to settle the case. But the lawyers for the defendants argued that only $1 million should be paid in fines, with no money recovered or extra orders. Also, Kwon and Terraform Labs would be forever stopped from purchasing or selling any digital assets, including tokens from the Terra ecosystem.
