What’s happening with ex-Terraform CEO Do Kwon?
Do Kwon may be extradited to South Korea, and US authorities are reportedly unhappy about it
T. Schneider/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
Former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon is set to be extradited to South Korea following a ruling from the High Court of Montenegro.
A spokesperson for the court spoke to multiple news outlets, explaining that the decision is final so long as Do Kwon’s legal team doesn’t appeal the ruling.
Do Kwon, according to legal documents filed last month, sought to be extradited to his home country of South Korea over the US. However, a court in Montenegro believed that the US first requested extradition and therefore was prioritized.
Read more: Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon faces US extradition: WSJ
“The Minister of Justice at the time the extradition requests were received in March and April 2023 publicly stated that the request from South Korea arrived first and that the most recent decision [made in February] of the High Court was erroneous,” Kwon’s lawyer Goran Rodić wrote last month.
Kwon’s team appealed the decision because they claimed the US was not the first country to make the request. The court sided with them, vacating the prior decision.
The US Department of Justice confirmed to Bloomberg that the US plans to contest the extradition ruling.
Read more: Do Kwon’s lawyers don’t expect a US extradition by March
“The United States continues to seek Kwon’s extradition in accordance with relevant international and bilateral agreements and Montenegrin law,” the DOJ told Bloomberg late Thursday.
South Korea, meanwhile, told the media outlet that they had yet to hear from Montenegro officially. The Block reported Thursday that South Korean authorities sought assistance from Interpol to aid with the extradition.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Terraform Labs and Kwon is set to go to trial on March 25. The date was pushed back from the end of January so that Kwon could attend. However, his lawyers — in a court filing last month — said that the extradition was taking longer than expected.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro a year ago — in March 2023 — for forged documentation, including a fake passport.
Kwon’s lawyers did not return a request for comment.
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