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Do Kwon Appeals New Montenegro High Court Decision Upholding Extradition Requests, Lawyer Says
Local courts may be facing political pressure regarding Kwon's extradition to the U.S. or South Korea, his Montenegro lawyer Goran Rodic told CoinDesk.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 7:58 p.m. Published Jan 15, 2024, 12:06 p.m.
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has again appealed the Montenegro High Court’s decision to uphold extradition requests from the U.S. and South Korea, his lawyer exclusively told CoinDesk, adding that local courts are apparently facing political pressure about the former crypto mogul’s overseas transfer.
In November, Kwon won an appeal to overturn the High Court’s decision that the extradition requests were legally sound. The same court again on Dec. 29 decided that the requests held up, Kwon’s Montenegro lawyer Goran Rodic said on Monday.
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“We appealed again and now we are waiting for a new decision of the Court of Appeal,” Rodic said in an email.
Following the May 2022 collapse of Kwon’s multi-billion dollar crypto enterprise Terraform Labs, authorities in his native country, South Korea, and the U.S. have brought criminal charges against him, including for fraud. The disgraced entrepreneur and an associate were arrested in Montenegro last year for possession of falsified official documents and were sentenced to four months in prison.
While Kwon serves his sentence in Montenegro, the country has to approve his extradition as well as decide the destination.
The new appeal was filed because the High Court’s decision "drastically violates the provisions of the law, the European Convention on Extradition and the bilateral treaty with America on extradition,” Rodic said.
“Apparently, there is also political pressure on the court, all to the detriment of Do Kwon,” he added.
Kwon’s U.S. counsel has meanwhile requested courts to delay a securities fraud trial against him so that he may attend in person.
CoinDesk has reached out to the Montenegro High Court for comment.
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