Do Kwon to Be Extradited to South Korea: Report

The High Court of Montenegro decided between competing claims from the U.S. and Republic of Korea.

A tug of war has ended with Do Kwon being extradited to South Korea, rather than the U.S.

(Terraform Labs)

Posted March 7, 2024 at 11:06 am EST.

The fugitive stablecoin founder Do Kwon will be extradited to his native South Korea to answer criminal charges, local media reported. The High Court in Montenegro’s capital of Podgorica made the decision on Thursday.

The extradition was highly contested, as the High Court had earlier decided to extradite Kwon to the U.S., but the decision was reversed by the Court of Appeals on Tuesday, following a request by South Korea.

Thereafter the High Court decided between competing requests from the U.S. and South Korea. Kwon faces criminal charges in the U.S. brought by the Department of Justice, as well as charges of securities fraud from the SEC.

Kwon is the co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs, which created the stablecoin TerraUSD and the crypto coin Luna. He and the former chief financial officer of Terraform, Han Chang-joon, were arrested nearly a year ago at the Montenegro airport, with forged passports.

TerraUSD and Luna collapsed in 2022, evaporating $45 billion in market capitalization, and setting off a more-than-year-long crypto winter.