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Do Kwon's U.S. Extradition Gets Okay From Montenegro's Justice Minister
Montenegro's Minister of Justice, Bojan Božović, said in a statement he approved the Terraform founder's extradition to the U.S. rather than South Korea.
Dec 27, 2024, 7:18 p.m.
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What to know:
- The U.S. and South Korean governments have both sought to have Terraform creator Do Kwon extradited to their respective countries.
- While various courts in Montenegro have ruled in favor of one country or another, Justice Minister Bojan Božović said Friday that Kwon would go to the U.S.
Terraform creator Do Kwon will be extradited to the U.S., Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović said Friday.
The U.S. and South Korean governments have both sought to take custody of Kwon to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra/Luna system in 2022, which kicked off a series of high-profile collapses including that of FTX.
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Kwon, who was arrested in Montenegro in March of 2023 and sentenced to a few months in prison over passport forgery charges, has been fighting his extradition to the U.S. for more than a year. Various courts in the country have ruled in favor of the U.S. or South Korea taking custody of the onetime crypto executive.
In his statement on Friday, Božović said his decision followed the country's Supreme Court ruling that the conditions for approving an extradition had been met.
"Bearing in mind the verdict of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice considered all the facts and circumstances and assessed criteria such as the gravity of the criminal acts, the place of execution, the order of submission of the request, the citizenship of the requested person, the possibility of further extradition to another country, as well as other circumstances," the statement said.
The U.S. bid met these criteria, the statement said.
Friday's announcement is just the latest in a string of back-and-forth decisions about where Kwon should be sent. The Appellate Court of Montenegro ruled in August of this year that Kwon should go to South Korea.
The legal fallout for Terra continues in the U.S. as well; last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges with Tai Mo Shan, a subsidiary of Jump Crypto, alleging Tai Mo Shan sold LUNA as a security. The company will pay $123 million as part of the settlement.
Editor's note: The Montenegrin government's statement was translated into English.
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