The legal conundrum surrounding fallen crypto star Kwon Do-hyeong has taken yet another key turn as the U.S. Securities and Exchange prepares to begin its trial against him. Interestingly, Kwon may miss the beginning of the securities fraud trial due to delays in his extradition from Montenegro.
Kwon’s Extradition Unlikely Before End-March
The SEC’s March 25 civil trial against Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon could start without him, according to a Reuters report.
Kwon’s defense attorney, David Patton, stated Monday in a letter to a federal court in New York City that the South Korean crypto entrepreneur did not intend to request a postponement of the trial date.
“[Kwon] will likely not be present or able to attend at least the start of the trial scheduled to begin on March 25, 2024,” wrote Patton. “We provide this information purely as a status update for the Court […] we will not seek any adjournment of the trial date regardless of the timing of Mr. Kwon’s ultimate extradition.”
The lawyer noted that the team anticipated Kwon to have already been deported to the U.S., but “unanticipated mistakes” have stalled the process. This now means the Terra creator will “likely not be extradited before the end of March” from Montenegro, where he has been since his arrest there in March 2023. He recently served time for attempting to flee to Dubai using a forged passport.
Kwon’s Legal Woes Drag On
Kwon and his lawyers previously asked that the SEC trial be pushed back from January to March so there would be a “realistic possibility” that he could attend in person.
The Montenegro High Court decided on Feb.21 to extradite Kwon to the U.S., against his previous wishes to be taken back to his home country, South Korea. Goran Rodic, Kwon’s lawyer in Montenegro, said in a declaration attached to Patton’s letter that the court’s ruling was “based on erroneous information” that the United States requested the extradition before South Korea — when the opposite was true. Rodic indicated that his client will be filing an appeal “in light of the illegality of the High Court’s decision ordering his extradition to the United States”.
After Terraform Labs’ stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST) and its sister token LUNA tumbled to essentially zero in May 2022 and wiped out $40 billion in investor wealth, authorities in South Korea and the U.S. brought criminal charges against him.
The SEC accused Kwon and Terraform of orchestrating a “multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud” related to offering UST and LUNA in a February 2023 lawsuit, while the Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s Office brought forward eight criminal charges against Kwon.