Montenegro’s government denied South Korea’s request to extradite Terraform Labs’s founder to his homeland, and it looks like Do Kown is heading to the USA!
The Montenegrin Supreme Court of Podgorica has approved the extradition of Terra’s founder, Do Kwon, to the US, as reported by the local publication Pobjeda today. The verdict also put an end to the legal chase over Kwon’s extradition from both South Korea and the US.
Wall Street Journal reported in December last year that Montenegro’s top judicial official planned to extradite Do Kwon to the US instead of Korea. However, the final determination relied on Andrej Milović, Minister of Justice of Montenegro.
Do Kwon Faces The USG
Do Kwon’s defense, led by lawyer Goran Rodić, previously argued for Kwon’s extradition to South Korea based on legal and treaty obligations.
However, Justice Minister Andrej Milović, when discussing whether to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea or the US, said that the US was a key foreign policy partner. Milović expressed a preference to sign a bilateral extradition treaty to establish a legal framework for future extraditions.
With the latest court decision, Kwon now faces charges in the US related to a multibillion-dollar fraud brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What Will Become of Him?
The extradition and criminal charges of Terra’s founder seemed to have become the focus of the crypto community. Prosecutors in the US and South Korea want to bring Kwon home to face trial for 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-Joon, Terraform Labs’ former Chief Financial Officer, when these two fugitives planned to escape to Dubai using falsified documents. They were then detained in the Balkans.
Immediately after news of Do Kwon’s arrest surfaced, the US federal prosecutor requested his extradition to New York to stand trial, where the former CEO was accused of defrauding investors and manipulating the price of the USTC stablecoin.
Kim Hee-kyung, a spokeswoman for the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office, said that the South Korean prosecutor would take steps to repatriate Do Kwon to the homeland. She also confirmed that they were working on the process of his extradition.
Burning Man!!!
The US SEC accused both Terraform Labs and its founder of orchestrating the scheme, raising billions of dollars from investors through disguised securities offerings and many unregistered trading assets. The US Department of Justice also issued a criminal indictment charging Do Kwon with fraud related to LUNA-UST.
By the end of 2023, Kwon asked the federal court to dismiss the US SEC’s interrogation order to question him in the US about the ecosystem’s collapse.
In a filing dated September 27, Kwon’s legal team said that the SEC’s request to be questioned before October 13 was unfeasible. He likely wants to avoid the US legal system, into which he may disappear like banchan at a Korean BBQ.
The reason was that he was detained in Montenegro at that time and had no release date-specific preferences or extradition schedule. In addition, Terra’s founder refused to provide written testimony to the SEC on the grounds that it violated procedural rights under US law.
Unlike Kwon, Chang-joon was extradited to South Korea following a court ruling earlier this month. He is now facing criminal proceedings in the country for fraud in financial services, investments, and the capital market, which is punishable by life imprisonment.
Luna Classic and Luna Still Traded
Luna Classic (LUNC) and Luna (LUNA) experienced a slight decrease. CoinGecko’s data shows that LUNC dropped around 1% while LUNA was down 2%. More shocking is that these tokens are still traded. Is there value there?
Only time will tell!