Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, after being caught in Montenegro last March, will finally be extradited to the United States after 21 months.
In May 2022, Do Kwon caused a stir in the cryptocurrency market with the collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), resulting in billions of dollars in losses for global investors. South Korea, the United States, and Interpol actively sought his whereabouts. Do Kwon was arrested in March 2023 in the small Balkan country of Montenegro, ending a ten-month escape.
(Do Kwon’s ten-month escape summary, a cryptocurrency legend who was caught later than SBF)
Do Kwon was caught in Montenegro for using a false identity. The High Court of Montenegro ruled in February this year for Kwon's extradition to the United States, but subsequently there were months of appeals, delays, and inconsistent rulings. During this time, Do Kwon's lawyer applied for his extradition back to his home country, South Korea, where the maximum sentence for financial criminals is usually 30 to 40 years. On the other hand, the principle followed by the United States is that courts can impose consecutive sentences for each crime of which the defendant is found guilty.
After staying in Montenegro for 21 months, the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice finally announced last Friday (12/27) that the country's Minister of Justice Bojan Božović has signed the order to extradite Do Kwon to the United States.
According to the 'final consent judgment proposal' submitted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in mid-June, the SEC requested the approval of a plan by Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York, which includes Terraform paying $3.58 billion in illegal gains, $420 million in civil penalties, and banning Do Kwon from becoming an executive or director of any publicly listed company. Do Kwon must personally pay at least $204,320,196 to be distributed to the affected investors.
This article confirms that Do Kwon will be extradited to the United States, first appeared in Chain News ABMedia.