For more than a year and a half, the United States and South Korea have demanded Do Kwon's extradition to their territories so that he can be tried there. Montenegro, the country where the founder and ex-CEO of Terraform Labs was arrested and where he is detained, wishes to extradite him, but the legal process to achieve this seems very complex.
The founder of Terraform Labs does not convince the Montenegro justice system on appeal
For Do Kwonthis December 24 hardly had the appearance of Christmas Eve. Indeed, the founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs learned that the Constitutional Court of Montenegro rejected his appeal aimed at avoiding his extradition from the Balkan country.
While the Montenegrin courts had recorded his next extradition, Do Kwon had requested the Constitutional Court to appeal, affirming that the decision did not respect the constitution in force in Montenegro. Ultimately, the Terraform Labs manager's appeal was rejected unanimously. The argument of the principal concerned was considered incoherent by the members of the Constitutional Court.
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This decision could well end several months of procrastination around the fate of Do Kwon. Since the TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed in 2022, the founder of the company behind this cryptocurrency has been accused fraud and market manipulation.
By making misleading statements around TerraUSDhe allegedly lied about how his stablecoin was backed by the US dollar. It would be the cause of damage estimated at nearly 40 billion dollars. As a result, Do Kown was the subject of a red notice by Interpol, an arrest warrant in South Korea and a class action lawsuit in the United States.
At the end of March 2023, Do Kwon was arrested at the airport of Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, as he tried to flee to Dubai using false identity documents.
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Do Kwon soon to be extradited? Nothing is less certain
Quickly, the United States and North Korea asked Montenegro to extradite Do Kwon to their territory. Although the Balkan country was in favor of extradition, its courts had to approve the process while facing the defense of the ex-CEO of Terraform Labs who pleaded not guilty, even asking for bail. This was refused to him.
This year, Do Kwon's extraction to the United States was validated by Montenegrin justice before a turnaround in the situation subsequently grants this right to South Korea. In the end, the courts gave the power to Bojan Božović, Montenegrin Minister of Justice to choose the country to which the founder of Terraform Labs will be extradited.
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Since this decision was taken, Montenegrin justice has been trying to find out if this extradition was legal. It was by rushing into this breach that Do Kwon was able to petition the Constitutional Court to file an appeal.
Now that this appeal has been rejected, nothing seems to stand in the way of Montenegro's Minister of Justice to make your choice. It is possible that in the coming weeks, Do Kwon's extradition to the United States or South Korea is effective.
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Source: Korea JoongAng Daily, Vijesti
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