Montenegro to Extradite Crypto Fugitive Do Kwon to the U.S. for Legal Proceedings: Report
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Seoul, Dec 27 (NationPress) The Montenegrin government is preparing to extradite South Korean crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon to the United States for legal proceedings, according to local news sources.
The decision for Kwon, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, was signed by Montenegro's Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic, as reported by the local online publication Vijesti on Friday (Montenegro time).
At 33 years old, Kwon, a co-founder of Terraform Labs, has been arrested and is currently detained in Montenegro due to his involvement in one of the largest failures in cryptocurrency history, as stated by the Yonhap news agency.
Authorities from both South Korea and the United States have urged the Montenegrin government to extradite him, as they investigate his alleged participation in fraud and tax evasion related to cryptocurrency.
South Korean officials have been probing Kwon for fraud and tax evasion charges after investors in his cryptocurrencies, TerraUSD and Luna, filed Ponzi-scheme claims against him following the dramatic collapse of the coins in May 2022.
Additionally, Kwon is wanted in the U.S., where he faces fraud charges brought by federal prosecutors based in New York.
TerraUSD, intended as a stablecoin, was pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar. However, holders of TerraUSD and Luna suffered losses exceeding an estimated US$40 billion in market value after the stablecoin plummeted well below its $1 peg in May 2022.
Previously, Montenegro's Constitutional Court has dismissed an appeal filed by Kwon regarding a ruling on his extradition. The court unanimously rejected the appeal, citing legal concerns.
In August of this year, Montenegro’s highest court postponed its earlier decision concerning the extradition of South Korean crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon to his native country in relation to a significant cryptocurrency crash.
A Montenegrin appeals court had previously upheld a lower court's decision to extradite Kwon to South Korea, turning down a request to instead send him to the United States.
As a co-founder of the cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs, Kwon is pursued by both South Korea and the U.S.
