The decision to extradite Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, to the United States has been revoked by a Montenegrin court. This marks Do Kwon’s third consecutive victory in his appeals against the extradition process.
Let’s see all the details below.
The Montenegrin court revokes approval for the extradition of Do Kwon
As anticipated, the Court of Appeal of Montenegro has overturned the decision to extradite Do Kwon to the United States, accepting the appeal filed by his defense attorneys.
This decision overturns the previous ruling of the Country’s High Court on February 20th.
The Court of Appeal has once again highlighted issues in the process. In particular, emphasizing the lack of clear reasoning and facts in the decision of the High Court regarding the extradition order.
The main reason for the revocation is the lack of clarity, as stated on Tuesday.
This is Do Kwon’s third consecutive victory in appeals against the extradition process, having previously succeeded on December 14 and February 8.
Despite previous favorable decisions, the High Court had reiterated the validity of the extradition requests, prompting Do Kwon to file a new appeal.
The recent decision follows what was reported by local media on February 21st. According to them, the High Court had decided to extradite Kwon to the United States, rejecting South Korea’s request.
The request for the extradition of Do Kwon is related to alleged criminal financial activities in the United States and South Korea.
In particular related to the collapse of the ecosystem Terra in May 2022, an event that caused the loss of about 40 billion dollars of investors’ wealth in a few days.
Do Kwon was initially arrested in Montenegro last March, accused of using a fake passport in an attempt to leave the country. In November, he was sentenced to four months in detention.
However, recent news confirm that Do Kwon may skip the start of the fraud trial at the US SEC on March 25 due to delays in the extradition process.
The possible leap of the SEC fraud case: delays in extradition
As mentioned above, the co-founder of Terraform Labs may not participate in the beginning of the process set for March 25 against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The defense lawyer of Kwon stated this, as reported by Reuters.
The lawyer David Patton stated in a letter filed with a federal court in New York that the former Terra leader does not intend to postpone the trial date, despite the delay in the extradition process.
Previously, Kwon had expressed the desire to personally participate in the trial, leading to a postponement from January to March.
Goran Rodic, lawyer for Kwon in Montenegro, stated in a declaration attached to Patton’s letter that “numerous unexpected errors” by the local court have caused delays in Montenegrin legal proceedings.
Recently, the high court of Montenegro has decided to extradite Kwon to the United States, contrary to his preference of being extradited to his native South Korea.
Rodic has announced that Kwon will appeal the sentence. Specifically stating that the decision is based on incorrect information regarding the sequence of extradition requests from the United States and South Korea.
We remind you that Kwon’s arrest took place at a Montenegrin airport in March of the previous year for attempted travel with fake documents.
The US SEC has accused Kwon and Terraform Labs of fraud.
Specifically stating that they have raised billions from investors through the sale of an interconnected series of crypto tokens, many of which in unregistered transactions. Kwon rejected the SEC’s accusations.