After months of waiting, the fate of Do Kwon, the South Korean businessman behind the Terra and Luna debacle, was finally known. Montenegro’s Justice Minister ultimately decided that Kwon will be extradited to the United States and not to his home country, South Korea.
In a statement released this Friday, the Montenegrin minister, Bojan Bozovic, reported that decided to send Do Kwon to the US.where he is expected to be tried for securities fraud, among other charges. If found guilty, Kwon could face up to 115 years in prison.
Do Kwon has been imprisoned in Montenegro since March 2023, when he was detained at Podgorica airport while trying to travel with falsified documents.
The minister’s final decision ends a dispute between the accused’s legal team and the Montenegrin authoritieswho were debating whether to comply with the extradition request to the United States or to South Korea, where Kwon is also wanted for various crimes, as reported by NoticiasVE.
Since the end of 2023, the possibility of sending Kwon to the United States was being considered, however, an appeals process and other legal considerations extended the process to the current point.
According to the Minister of Justice, based on the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro this week, which authorized the extradition of Do Kwon, the official “examined all the facts and circumstances and assessed criteria such as the seriousness of the crimes, the place of execution , the order in which the request was presented, the nationality of the person sought, the possibility of a new extradition to another State, as well as other circumstances.
In view of the above, it was concluded that most of the legal criteria they favored the extradition request submitted by the US authorities. Consequently, the Minister of Justice decided to allow Do Kwon Hyeong’s extradition to the United States, while rejecting extradition to the Republic of Korea.
Do Kwon is known for being the co-founder of Terraform Labs, responsible for the Terra and Luna cryptocurrency projects. These projects collapsed in May 2022, causing losses estimated at around $40 billion. This episode not only affected thousands of investors, but also left a significant mark on the cryptocurrency ecosystem, destabilizing trust in algorithmic stablecoins and affecting the reputation of the sector as a whole.
Now, with extradition to the US, Do Kwon will face a judicial system known for its rigorous approach to financial fraud cases. Although the extradition order does not yet have a specified date for its execution by the Minister of Justice, this crucial step marks the beginning of a new legal chapter for Kwon, where he must answer for the accusations. which have had a devastating impact on the market.