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.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 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 (2).png

Research

We’re bullish on the PUMP token. We believe Pump.fun's brand strength, existing integrations, product roadmap, and strategic levers justify PUMP's TGE valuation, and expect the token to re-rate meaningfully higher in the months ahead.

article-image

Data shows frontrunning has declined on the network compared to last year

article-image

Industry watchers weigh in on what’s coming for bitcoin, M&A and tokenization before the year wraps

article-image

“We are open 24/7/365, but good luck getting an employee to pick up.”

article-image

BitVM3’s “garbled circuit” approach faces critical security and scaling research before it will be practical

article-image

Big blockers wasted a bitcoin fortune trying to prove a point

article-image

Coinbase’s newest acquisition includes the CEO and Head of Research from Opyn