Photo: Stevo Vasiljevic (Portal)
Terraform Labs founder Kwon Do-hyeong, also known as Do Kwon, will spend four months behind bars in a Balkan prison for forging travel documents.
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The crypto fugitive was arrested in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica in March along with Han Chang-joon, former Terraform Labs finance officer, after months in hiding in Serbia. The arrest ended a cat-and-mouse chase by the South Korean authorities, who, with the help of Interpol, posted a red bulletin for the duo’s arrest in 195 countries.
Fake travel documents were found on the two fugitives, including two Costa Rican passports, two Belgian passports and two former crypto executives’ ID cards, as well as laptops and other devices.
Montenegro must decide on Do Kwon’s extradition
Both the US and South Korea are vying to extradite the alleged Montenegro crypto scammer who orchestrated the $40 billion sinking of TerraUSD and Luna tokens. South Korean prosecutor Dan Sunghan, who led the investigation into the crypto entrepreneur, told Bloomberg earlier this month that Kwon could face trial in either country, potentially serving his sentence first in one and then the other. In South Korea, Kwon is accused of violating capital market laws, among other things, and faces a 40-year prison sentence.
Kwon faces fraud charges in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is suing him for financial crimes and attempts to manipulate capital markets. Regulators said Kwon has caused “devastating losses” to US retail and institutional investors. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in February, “Terraform and Do Kwon have failed to provide the public with the full, fair and truthful disclosure required for a variety of crypto-asset securities.”
Montenegro does not have extradition treaties with either the US or South Korea, making it difficult for the duo to be deported to either country. However, Washington is relying on an old extradition agreement with Montenegro that was previously used to extradite American citizens. In this case, Kwon and Chang-joon are South Korean citizens, giving Seoul more hope of convincing Montenegro to hand over the refugees.