Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has been extradited to the United States with the help of Interpol.
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Montenegro’s minister of justice signed off on Kwon’s extradition last week.
Do Kwon Extradited to the United States
Montenegro extradited Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the United States on Tuesday after the agreement was signed off last week. This is according to local news outlet Vijesti.
While citing a statement from Montenegro's Ministry of Justice, Vijesti reported that,
"Today, at the Podgorica Airport border crossing, South Korean citizen Kwon Do-Hyung, who was sought by two countries — South Korea and the United States — was extradited by the NCB Interpol Podgorica officials with the support of the special police unit.”
According to the report, Do Kwon was handed over to the U.S. authorities and FBI agents after a decision by the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro. The extradition comes following months of legal proceedings in Montenegro, where the former Terraform Labs co-founder faced extradition requests from the U.S. and South Korea.
Do Kwon will face criminal charges in the United States, including conspiracy to commit fraud related to securities transactions, money laundering, and electronic fraud. The charges relate to his role in the collapse of the Luna and TerraUSD coins in 2022, which resulted in billions of dollars in investor losses.
The extradition came after the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, Bojan Božović, signed the order to have the Terraform Labs co-founder extradited to the United States last week.
The Constitutional Court of Montenegro nullified Do Kwon’s transfer to South Korea. In September, the court ruled that the minister of justice had the final say on the extradition requests, ultimately leading to his extradition to the United States.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the decision to extradite Do Kwon to the United States was based on several criteria, including the severity of the criminal offenses, the location of the crimes, the order of extradition requests, Kwon’s nationality, and the potential for further extradition.
