Do Kwon extradition hits snag as prosecutor challenges ruling

The legal back and forth around Do Kwon’s extradition hit another speed bump

article-image

Terraform Labs and Adobe Stock modified by Blockworks

share

Former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon is set to be extradited to South Korea, unless Montenegro’s top prosecutor stops it. 

According to a press release, the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office asked the Supreme Court to determine whether or not the court’s ruling that Kwon will be extradited to his home country is founded. 

“In the specific case, the court, contrary to the law, conducted abbreviated, instead of regular proceedings and by exceeding the limits of its powers, made a decision on the extradition permit, which is the exclusive competence of the Minister of Justice,” a translated version of the press release said.  

The Supreme Court said on Friday that it was placing a stay on the ruling made by the High Court, which means that Do Kwon will not be extradited to South Korea yet.

This is yet another snag ahead of his upcoming trial in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against the former executive and Terraform Labs was delayed until the end of the month. 

The original delay was ordered so that Kwon had time to be extradited to the US. However, in late February, Kwon’s lawyers told the court that they didn’t expect a US extradition by March.

Read more: What’s happening with ex-Terraform CEO Do Kwon?

Kwon and his lawyers in Montenegro pushed for an extradition to his home country. Both the US and South Korea field requests with Montenegro to extradite the former crypto CEO.

The trial is slated to start on March 25.

Montenegro announced on Wednesday the “confirmed decision” of the High Court on Kwon’s extradition, just a day before the Prosecutor’s Office made its announcement. 

In the earlier press release, the court confirmed its decision, highlighting South Korea’s initial request for Kwon’s extradition. This request was “applied in the case when the extradition of the same person is requested by several countries.”

Late last year, there were mixed reports about a potential US extradition for Kwon, though — due to the handling of the case by the courts — the ruling was subsequently overturned and the case reheard.

Updated March 22, 2024 at 12:26 pm ET: Added that the Supreme Court placed a pause on Do Kwon’s extradition.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?

article-image

DAWN is positioning itself as a decentralized protocol for gigabit-level internet access

article-image

VanEck Ventures and VanEck’s Digital Assets Alpha Fund invested $2.5 million in DAWN through a strategic funding round, the teams exclusively told Blockworks