On New Year’s Eve, Montenegrin authorities announced that Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon had been extradited to the United States. The development comes after the Minister of Justice signed an order for his extradition, ending a long battle between the US and South Korea to bring the crypto entrepreneur to court.
Founder of Terraform Labs Surrendered to US Authorities
On December 31, Montenegro extradited Do Kwon to the United States to face trial for his role in the collapse of Terraform Labs in 2022. As reported by the Korean Herald, the Ministry of the Interior announced the end of the extended international extradition saga in a statement on Tuesday. in the morning.
According to the report, Do Kwon “was handed over to the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the United States of America and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)” to face “criminal charges in the US for conspiracy to defraud.” “
Last week, Montenegro’s Justice Minister, Bojan Božović, rejected South Korea’s request and signed an order to extradite Do Kwon to the US. Both countries sought his extradition for more than a year, leading to a lengthy legal trial to try the once-influential crypto mogul.
As local news reported, “The Department of Justice considered all the facts and circumstances and evaluated the conditions” and concluded that the co-founder of Terraform Labs should be returned to the US.
Considering the above, it was concluded that most of the conditions provided by the law support the request for extradition by the authorities of the United States of America, and the Minister of Justice issued a decision allowing the extradition of Kwon Do Hyeong to the United States. The United States, at the same time refused to be returned to the Republic of Korea.
It is reported that Do Kwon’s Montenegrin lawyers criticized the Justice Minister’s decision and announced that they “will refer it to the country’s constitutional court and the European Court of Human Rights.”
Make Kwon’s Montenegro Saga
The South Korean businessman was under the custody of Montenegro for more than a year and a half. In March 2023, authorities arrested him and Terraform Lab’s former chief financial officer, Han Chang-joon, for attempting to use fake travel documents at Podgorica airport.
Before his arrest, he had been on the run for months, fleeing his home country and Singapore before Terraform Labs went bankrupt. The company’s downfall was one of the biggest in crypto history, wiping out “about $50 billion from the network’s two assets, TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA), over the course of a week,” the Federal Reserve Board explained. on paper.
Do Kwon was then sentenced to four months in prison in Montenegro, later getting another two months at the request of the US and South Korea. When he was released, he was escorted to an immigration center to await a decision by the Supreme Court of Montenegro on extradition requests.
Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) is trading at $0.000111 in the one-week chart. Source: LUNCUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com