WSJ: Montenegro’s Ministry of Justice is leaning toward decision to extradite Do Kwon to US authorities

What’s new? Montenegro’s Justice Ministry plans to extradite TerraForm Labs (TFL) founder Do Kwon to US authorities, not South Korea, an official of the agency told WSJ. The authorities of both countries have filed requests for the extradition of the businessman to conduct trials in their jurisdictions. He faces charges of fraud and violation of securities laws in connection with the collapse of the Terra blockchain in May last year, which caused damage to holders of LUNA and UST coins of $40 billion. Kwon himself, meanwhile, is a South Korean citizen.

Material by WSJ

What else is known? After the collapse of Terra, Do Kwon went on the run, while at the same time, lawsuits against him on charges of fraud were filed not only by the authorities but also by groups of investors from Korea, the US, and Singapore. Kwon was later included in Interpol’s wanted database, while he denied the accusations of fleeing on social media, claiming that law enforcers themselves were not seeking to contact him.

In late March, Kwon and his assistant were detained at Montenegro’s Podgorica airport while attempting to fly to Dubai using fake passports, for which they later received four months in jail each. At the end of that term, the city court approved the extradition, leaving it to Justice Minister Andrej Milović to decide which country the businessman would be extradited to.

Leader of the leading party in Montenegro accused of having ties with Do Kwon

The alleged connection is reported in a handwritten document by the founder of TFL

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In early December, Kwon appealed the court’s decision, and now it is to be reconsidered. However, according to Korean media, the chances that it will change are very small.

Milović has not yet publicly announced his decision to extradite the businessman to the US authorities, and comments on the matter will generally be delayed until the court considers the appeal.

Earlier, experts noted that the growth rate of the LUNC token is outpacing the broader crypto market, with the asset adding 207% over the past month. LUNC is the token of the original Terra network developed by TFL. Due to the collapse of the project, the network was split into two independent blockchains, and the coin was assigned a new ticker.