- Terraform co-founder and ex-CEO Do Kwon has been released from a Montenegro jail.
- The Supreme Court of Montenegro recently suspended the decision by a lower court to extradite him to South Korea
- Do Kwon now awaits a potential extradition to South Korea with no specific date in view yet
Co-founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs Do Kwon has been released from a Montenegro prison. Kwon now walks free after serving his jail term for possessing fake passports within the country’s borders. Kwon was arrested alongside his ally Han Chang-Joon by Montenegrin authorities last year and faces extradition to South Korea which Montenegro’s Supreme Court will ultimately determine.
Do Kwon Now Walks Free, But Bound To Montenegro Pending Extradition Decision
Kwon was released this Saturday following the expiration of his jail term for fake papers. However, the fugitive crypto mogul will not be allowed to step out of the country’s borders. On Friday, the High Court of Podgorica ordered that the South Korean’s travel documents be seized as a security measure pending the determination of his extradition.
Kwon had earlier appealed the Podgorica High Court’s decision to extradite him to the US, insisting that only Montenegro’s Justice minister would have the final say in his extradition case. Consequently, Montenegro’s Appellate Court overruled the extradition order and returned the case to “first instance” for retrial.
A subsequent high court decision on March 6, approved Kwon’s extradition to his native South Korea for the “purpose of criminal prosecution,” according to Montenegro’s Appellate Court. Following the court’s decision Kwon’s legal team moved to appeal the decision but was denied an appeal.
According to Kwon’s lawyer, Goran Rodic, the court’s decision to hand him over to South Korea was final, and neither Kwon’s team nor US authorities could appeal it. Do Kwon already faces eight counts of fraud with United States authorities, and inside sources claim he may prefer extradition to South Korea where he might get a milder sentence. In the meantime, he remains under house arrest in Montenegro till his extradition is fully concluded.
Kwon’s Extradition To South Korea Paused By Supreme Court Till Further Notice
The Supreme Court of Montenegro has ordered a postponement of Kwon’s extradition following a March 20 petition against the High Court’s decision from the State Prosecutor’s Office. The filing requested a “protection of legality” concerning the lower court’s decision on the extradition request process.
The petition alleged that the lower court overstepped its authority by rejecting Kwon’s legal team’s appeal. The state prosecutors insist there were procedural errors in the court process that decided to hand over the defendant to South Korean Authorities. Kwon will therefore have to wait patiently in Montenegro pending when the Supreme Court confirms the procedural correctness of the legal process.
“The state prosecutor’s appeal was considered by the panel of this court as a statement in the sense of Article 19 paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, bearing in mind that Article 20 paragraph 2 of this law does not provide for the right of the state prosecutor to declare an appeal,” said a statement from Montenegro’s Court of Appeal,
Meanwhile, the court has not set any date for the continuation of the legal process, leaving everyone in limbo as to when Kwon will finally be extradited to South Korea. The 32-year-old Stanford University graduate faces accusations of swindling investors in a multi-billion dollar scheme that came to limelight with the Terra-Luna collapse.