Do Kwon Temporarily Spared Extradition to the U.S.

Do Kwon, disgraced founder of Terraform Labs, has received a temporary reprieve from extradition to the U.S.

🚨BREAKING: DO KWON WINS WINS YET ANOTHER APPEAL AGAINST EXTRADITION TO THE UNITED STATES

— BSCN Headlines (@BSCNheadlines) March 5, 2024

A Montenegro court has overturned a previous ruling approving his extradition and ordered a retrial of the case, as reported on the court’s website.

Kwon faces fraud charges in the U.S., where he is accused of orchestrating a massive scam that led to the collapse of Terra, a blockchain-based platform aiming to create a stablecoin backed by real-world assets. The project imploded in mid-2022, causing billions of dollars in investor losses.

After the collapse, Kwon fled to Montenegro but was arrested for possessing fake documents. Currently serving a four-month jail term in Montenegro, Kwon is in limbo as both the U.S. and South Korea seek his extradition, alleging he played a key role in Terra’s downfall.

The court’s decision for a retrial stems from ambiguity regarding which country’s extradition request arrived first and which should take precedence. Kwon’s lawyer, Goran Rodic, previously told CoinDesk that the court faced political pressure to extradite Kwon and maintained his client’s innocence.

Do Kwon Is Not Out of the Woods Yet

Although the latest ruling delays his potential extradition, it does not guarantee Kwon’s freedom. The retrial, to be conducted by the same court that initially approved his extradition, could still lead to his extradition to the U.S.

Kwon’s former colleague, Han Chang-Joon, the ex-CFO of Terraform Labs, has already been extradited to South Korea by Montenegro in February.

In other related news, Bitcoin has returned to the $69,000 mark for the first time since November 2021, marking a full comeback from the Terra-induced market collapse. The benchmark cryptocurrency previously minted a new all-time high at $69,210 as the crypto market remained in a frenzy.

 

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