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.

recent research

Research Report Templates (6).png

Research

In recent months, a number of highly accretive developments were implemented across the protocol to improve fee capture, expand product functionality, and ultimately drive value accrual to the RUNE token, with more upgrades on the immediate horizon. These developments include hiking the minimum swap fee parameter to increase revenue, adding a Burn System Income Lever to reduce the RUNE supply, the addition of COSM-WASM smart contracting and IBC to enable an application layer, new chain integrations, and more.

article-image

Former IRS agent and Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan will remain imprisoned in Nigeria’s Kuje prison

article-image

When Permissionless III wraps on Friday, there will be 26 days left until the 2024 presidential election

article-image

Plus, an update from the ground in Salt Lake City at Permissionless III

article-image

The US regulator accused the crypto market-making firm of acting as an unregistered dealer

article-image

Customers can pay merchants in USDC or USDP on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, while US-based merchants are paid in dollars