Extradition of crypto fugitive Do Kwon delayed after forgery charge in Montenegro
By Bryan Ke
Cryptocurrency fugitive Do Kwon and his associate have been indicted for forgery in Montenegro, effectively delaying their extradition to South Korea.
Kwon, 31, and his associate, Han Chang-joon, were accused of forging personal documents. Montenegro prosecutors have also requested to extend the detention of Kwon, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, and Han in the Balkan country, a prosecutor’s office official from the country’s capital of Podgorica confirmed in an email to Bloomberg.
Although the request to extend their detention has been sent, a Montenegro court still needs to decide if the request will be granted.
Under the Balkan country’s law, those caught forging personal documents could face a maximum prison sentence of five years, Montenegro Justice Minister Marko Kovac said, Korea Times reported.
However, those imprisoned for document forgery reportedly usually only serve up to six months in prison.
Kwon was arrested at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro on March 23, nearly a year after he went into hiding following the nosedive crash of his now-defunct cryptocurrency TerraUSD and its sister coin, Luna, in May 2022.
Investors around the world lost approximately $42 billion upon the collapse of the two cryptocurrencies.
Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, became an international fugitive after Interpol issued a red notice on him in September 2022, shortly after the South Korean court issued an arrest warrant on him.
South Korean prosecutors had been chasing after Kwon for months, a trail that led them to Serbia in December 2022.
Besides South Korea, the United States is also seeking to extradite Kwon.
He currently faces securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy charges in the U.S.
On Friday, Kwon’s lawyers filed a motion to drop all charges against the defunct cryptocurrency co-founder.
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