According to a Montenegrin official, the U.S. won the tug-of-war regarding Do Kwon’s fate.
After being at the center of the debacle that sent Terra and Luna spiralling to near absolute zero, former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon fled his home country of South Korea and disappeared off the map for a good several months.
He did not, however, disappear off of Twitter, where he continued posting diatribes blaming SBF and others for the collapse of his platform.
About a year ago, he even posted that the allegations against his platform had been proven false.
Unfortunately for him, his short-sighted opinion was not shared by his community.
Captured in Montenegro
After escaping the country via Abu Dhabi, Do Kwon was placed on Interpol’s wanted list and spent several months lying low in Europe and possibly elsewhere. Earlier this year, however, he was captured by Montenegrin border officials when he attempted to flee to Costa Rica.
At the time, Do Kwon was using a fake passport. The former crypto mogul claimed to have no knowledge of the passport being a forgery and was sentenced to four months in jail for the attempt.
Wanted for Questioning in Both Korea And US
As soon as he was placed in custody, a diplomatic battle started between U.S. and Korean authorities, with officials in both countries wanting to extradite him in order to stand trial.
Late last month, Montenegrin officials confirmed that Kwon would indeed be extradited, but they were as of yet unsure of what his final destination would be.
However, a recent report by the Wall Street Journal states that Kwon would be extradited to the U.S.
The decision was taken by Montenegrin Justice Minister Andrej Milović. However, an official statement by the minister or his cabinet has not yet been issued.
Once extradited, Kwon faces fraud charges filed by the SEC last February.
“Today’s action not only holds the defendants accountable for their roles in Terra’s collapse, (and) once again highlights that we look to the economic realities of an offering, not the labels put on it. As alleged in our complaint, the Terraform ecosystem was neither decentralized nor finance. It was simply a fraud propped up by a so-called algorithmic “stablecoin” – the price of which was controlled by the defendants, not any code.”
An extradition to the U.S. does not mean charges against him in his home country would be dropped. Even if judged in the U.S., Kwon may still be judged and sentenced in absentia back in South Korea.