Extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea

Kwon must go to South Korea. This has now been decided by the court in Montenegro. How about the founder of Terra (LUNA).

The Montenegrin Court of Appeal has rejected the request of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon. This confirms the decision of the Supreme Court in Podgorica, which two weeks ago approved Kwon's extradition to South Korea.

South Korea and the U.S. have been trying to extradite Do Kwon since March 2023. The suspected crypto fraudster has both nationalities and was traveling with forged papers when police arrested him after months on the run.

Terraform Labs is the company behind the Terra blockchain and is known for its Terra stablecoin and associated LUNA token. Both went down in May 2022 amid allegations of fraud.

"The panel [...] concluded that the district court correctly determined that the Republic of South Korea's motion was received earlier than the U.S. motion," the appeals court announced.

Kwon was still to be extradited to the U.S. in February. His lawyers then successfully appealed, allowing South Korea's extradition request to come first.

The U.S. criminal case against Kwon will likely proceed even without his personal presence. Following the decision in South Korea's favor, the U.S. Justice Department told Bloomberg that it "continues to seek the extradition of Kwon".

It is unclear what legal maneuvers Kwon's lawyers can still use to prevent his extradition to South Korea. Still, a new round of legal wrangling would not be surprising.

In any case, Kwon is unlikely to face a bright future in his homeland. Terra's mastermind reportedly faces a 40-year prison sentence.