Montenegro court approves Do Kwon’s extradition to either South Korea or the US
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Do Kwon, the former CEO of Terraform Labs — the company behind the collapsed Terra blockchain — is set to be extradited from Montenegro, either to the US or to South Korea.
While his arrest was made months ago, in March of this year, the officials had to wait for the Court in Podgorica, Montenegro, to approve the extradition.
🔴 The court in Montenegro has approved the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder @stablekwon to South Korea or the United States. The final decision on which country will accept Kwon will be made by the Montenegrin Minister of Justice.#Montenegro #TerraformLabs#DoKwon pic.twitter.com/xxF3IMfBXr
— Dvizh 🇺🇦 (@dvizh_com) November 24, 2023
Do Kwon to leave for the US or South Korea after serving 4 months in Montenegro
Terraform Labs’ former CEO has been in hiding ever since the collapse of the Terra blockchain, and he managed to evade authorities for almost a full year. However, as mentioned, he was arrested in Montenegro in March of this year after he was caught providing false documents from Costa Rica.
According to reports, Do Kwon was trying to board a flight to Dubai when law enforcement made the arrest. At the time, he was wanted for multiple charges of fraud and misleading investors in the US. The country’s authorities had even indicted him with eight different charges, including conspiracy, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud.
With the court finally approving his extradition, Do Kwon is ready to leave the country, but only after he first serves a four-month prison sentence in Montenegro itself, where he was charged with document forgery. After that, he will be surrendered to the authorities of one of the two nations that have been searching for him for all this time.
Multiple crypto companies’ CEOs were found guilty of various crimes
Do Kwon’s extradition approval comes as the latest in a string of high-profile crypto-related cases and developments in the last month. Less than a week ago, Binance’s founder Changpeng CZ Zhao pleaded guilty to violating AML requirements, which led to his stepping down from the position of the exchange’s CEO.
Not only that, but Zhao was also completely banned from participating in the exchange’s further decision-making and management. As part of the settlement, Binance will have to pay $4.3 billion in fines, while Zhao himself has to pay a substantial fine for the mismanagement of the platform.
Before that, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX crypto exchange was also found guilty on seven counts of multi-billion dollar fraud, which included multiple companies and a large-scale operation including multiple executives. This came at the end of a trial that has seen many of his former coworkers, including one whom he had a romantic relationship with, testifying against him.
The game has changed..
The suits have arrived
They may be late but when they play.. they play to win
❌ CZ
❌ SBF
❌ Do Kwon
❌ Su Zhu✅ Blackrock
They want your #bitcoin.. its your job not to give it to them pic.twitter.com/K9Jfd3vN76
— ＤＲＥＡＤ ＢＯＮＧＯ (@DreadBong0) November 21, 2023
As for Do Kwon, the US SEC alleges that he raised funds from investors between April 2018 and 2022 through false offerings and inter-connected digital assets, most of which were not registered.
