A court in Montenegro has rejected an appeal by Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon that could block his extradition to South Korea.
In a March 20 announcement, the Court of Appeals of Montenegro announced that it had upheld the country’s high court’s decision to allow Kwon’s extradition to South Korea, where he has citizenship. The Terraform Labs co-founder could face “several criminal charges” if extradited.
“Judging the appeal of the defendant’s defense counsel, the appeals court panel assessed that the court of first instance correctly determined that the South Korean Republic’s request arrived earlier in the order of arrival compared to the US request,” the appeals court said. “[It] made a decision allowing the extradition of the accused Do Kwon to South Korea.”
Montenegrin authorities arrested Kwon in March 2023 for using forged travel documents. He has since remained in the country while the United States and South Korea filed competing extradition requests for the Terraform co-founder.
The criminal case against Kwon in the U.S., where they face eight criminal charges, is likely to continue even if he is unable to appear in person. A Montenegrin court ruled in February that Kwon would be extradited to the U.S., but his lawyers successfully challenged the decision in March, leading to the South Korean request taking precedence.
During Kwon’s tenure at Terraform Labs, the company collapsed in May 2022, due in part to its token business formerly known as TerraUSD (UST) and Luna. The platform’s collapse likely contributed to the decline of the cryptocurrency market in 2022, with several companies declaring bankruptcy or otherwise going out of business.
It is unclear what, if any, legal maneuvers Kwon’s lawyers have in place to fight extradition to South Korea. The country’s government imposed harsh penalties on criminals involved in cryptocurrency-related crimes after Terra’s collapse.
