US to challenge Do Kwon’s South Korea extradition: Bloomberg
Quick Take
- U.S. prosecutors will continue to seek Do Kwon’s extraditions, while legal experts reportedly expect lighter punishment in South Korea.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it will continue to pursue the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-hyeong from Montenegro, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday.
A Montenegrin high court made a decision on Thursday to extradite the former Terra chief to South Korea, reversing a Feb.21 decision from another Montenegro court to send Do Kwon to the United States.
Kwon’s defense team had also expressed their preference to be sent to South Korea, while legal experts expressed concern about a possible acquittal or a light punishment from the South Korean court, Bloomberg reported.
The U.S. also "continues to seek Kwon’s extradition in accordance with relevant international and bilateral agreements and Montenegrin law," said DOJ in the report.
Kwon’s extradition still awaits final approval from Andrej Milović, the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, according to South Korean news reports.
Meanwhile, Terra’s co-founder Shin Hyun-seung and former finance chief Han Chang-jun are currently being tried in South Korea.
Collapse and arrest
The former Terraform Labs CEO has been sought by U.S. and South Korean authorities for fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022 — which wiped out around $40 billion of investor wealth in a matter of days.
Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro last March, charged with using a fake passport in an attempt to leave the country, and was sentenced to four months in November.
On multiple occasions, Kwon has denied the accusations that he and Terraform Labs deliberately defrauded investors.
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