Do Kwon, the founder of the Terra Luna cryptoecosystem that collapsed in 2022, will remain in custody for another 2 months before his release.
On Tuesday, the Montenegrin court extended by two months the detention of Do Kwon, the South Korean founder of the Terra cryptocurrency wanted by the United States and South Korea, whose extradition was allowed by the local justice at the end of November.
“The extradition detention of Do Kwon has been extended by two months” from the expiration of the current detention on December 15, Marija Rakovic, spokeswoman for the High Court in Podgorica, told AFP.
Both Washington and Seoul are suing the businessman for his role in the 2022 collapse of his company Terraform, which cost investors around $40 billion. It is not yet clear to which country he will be extradited.
Kwon Do-hyung, his real name, was arrested in March in Montenegro. After leaving South Korea and then Singapore, he was on the run for several months before his company went bankrupt in May 2022.
Terra was presented as a stable cryptocurrency that is supposed to be less volatile than a classic cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, whose price fluctuates according to supply and demand. But unlike larger stablecoins, its stability was guaranteed by an algorithm rather than its own reserves of currency or other physical assets.
In June, Do Kwon was sentenced by a Montenegrin court to four months in prison for forging documents because he had a fake passport when he was arrested at Podgorica airport.
“Policy”
The High Court in Podgorica gave the go-ahead for his extradition at the end of November, leaving Justice Minister Andrej Milović to decide whether he would be handed over to the United States or South Korea. Mr. Milovič did not reveal the government’s intentions regarding Do Kwon’s extradition, but called the move “political.”
Since his arrest, Do Kwon has been a source of controversy in the country’s political scene. During the campaign for the last parliamentary elections in June, outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovič and his allies accused the main candidate and current head of government Milojko Spajic of maintaining connections with the detained businessman.