Terraform’s Do Kwon mounts last-ditch effort to avoid extradition: Report

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has launched his final attempt to appeal a Montenegrin court’s decision that could see him extradited from the country. 

In a Dec. 6 report, local state media stated that lawyers for Kwon had officially appealed the Nov. 24 decision from the High Court of Podgorica, which approved that Kwon could be extradited to either the United States or South Korea pending a final decision by the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice will now consider the appeal and reexamine the initial extradition order and is currently slated to make a final decision on the matter by Dec. 15.

According to a Nov. 24 statement from the High Court of Podogrica, Kwon expressed that he would prefer to be extradited the South Korea rather than the the United States.

Lawyers for Kwon first hit back at extradition requests from the U.S. on Sept. 28, claiming that any attempt to deport the beleaguered co-founder before Oct. 13 would be “impossible” due to his ongoing detention in Montenegro.

Related: Jury in Terraform Labs case shouldn’t decide whether crypto is a security — SEC

On Feb. 17, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued both Terraform Labs and Kwon for “orchestrating a multibillion-dollar crypto asset securities fraud.”

Today we charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Do Hyeong Kwon with orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities.

— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) February 16, 2023

Kwon and former Terraform Labs chief financial officer Han Chong-joon were arrested on March 23 at Podgorica airport for traveling with falsified travel documentation while attempting to depart for Dubai.

Kwon was later taken into extradition custody in Montenegro on June 15 and was ordered to six months imprisonment while the court decided whether to extradite him to the U.S. or South Korea.

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