Montenegro extradited a South Korean businessman, the “cryptocurrency king,” on Tuesday, to the United States.
This action followed a decision by Montenegro’s justice ministry earlier this month, which favoured the US extradition request over a competing plea from South Korea, as confirmed by Montenegrin authorities.
According to the police, officers from the National Central Bureau of Interpol in Montenegro transferred Do Kwon, the founder of the Singapore-based crypto firm Terraform Labs, to FBI agents at the Podgorica Airport border crossing.
The police statement read, “Today, on December 31, 2024, he (Do Kwon) was handed over to the competent law enforcement authorities of the United States of America and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”
This development is the culmination of a protracted legal battle involving Do Kwon. Both South Korea and the United States had sought his extradition, leading to a series of judicial rulings in Montenegro over the past months, which alternately approved and overturned his extradition to either country.
Do Kwon and another South Korean national were detained in Montenegro in March 2023 while attempting to travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, using forged Costa Rican passports. Kwon subsequently served a prison sentence in Montenegro for using a counterfeit passport.
In the United States, Kwon faces fraud charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York in connection with a $40 billion collapse of Terraform Labs’ cryptocurrency, which significantly impacted retail investors globally.
Kwon, along with five others associated with Terraform, had been sought on allegations of fraud and financial crimes related to the failure of its digital currencies in May 2022.
TerraUSD was designed to function as a “stablecoin,” a type of cryptocurrency pegged to stable assets like the US dollar to avoid significant price volatility. However, approximately $40 billion in market value was wiped out for holders of TerraUSD and its associated cryptocurrency, Luna, when the stablecoin plummeted well below its $1 peg.
Frances Ibiefo
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