Montenegro Court Approves Do Kwon’s Extradition to the United States: Report

Nearly a year after his arrest in Montenegro, Terraform Labs co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon is reportedly set to be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges.

Both the United States and South Korea previously submitted extradition requests to Montenegro officials.

• According to local news outlet Pobjeda, on Feb. 21, the Podgorica High Court in Montenegro decided that Do Kwon would be extradited to the United States, thereby ruling out an extradition request from South Korea.
• The latest development comes after Kwon’s legal team recently won an appeal to overturn the decision of the High Court to favor the extradition requests from the United States and South Korea.
• Following his arrest by Montenegro authorities in March 2023 while attempting to flee to another country with a fake passport, the former Terraform Labs CEO was later sentenced to four months in prison.
• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Terraform Labs and Kwon of “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities” after the crash of UST in 2022, which led to massive losses for investors.
• In January 2024, the SEC agreed to a delay in the trial date regarding the Terraform case as requested by Kwon’s legal team, who said that they wanted their client to attend in person.
• It is, however, not certain when Kwon will be moved to the United States. Meanwhile, Terraform Labs’ former financial officer Han Chang-joon, who was arrested alongside Kwon, has been extradited to South Korea.