Do Kwon, the creator of Terraform, is set to be extradited to the United States, according to Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović. The decision comes after a long legal battle over which country should take custody of Kwon to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra/Luna system in 2022.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 and was sentenced to a few months in prison for passport forgery. Since then, he has been fighting extradition to the U.S. or South Korea. Various courts in Montenegro have ruled in favor of either the U.S. or South Korea taking custody of the former crypto executive.
In a statement released on Friday, Božović explained that the Supreme Court of Montenegro had ruled that the conditions for approving the extradition had been met. The Ministry of Justice considered factors such as the gravity of the criminal acts, the place of execution, the order of submission of the extradition request, the citizenship of the requested individual, and the possibility of further extradition to another country.
The U.S. bid ultimately met these criteria, leading to the decision for Kwon to be extradited. This announcement marks the latest development in a series of legal decisions regarding Kwon’s extradition. In August of this year, the Appellate Court of Montenegro ruled that Kwon should be sent to South Korea.
Meanwhile, legal proceedings related to Terra continue in the U.S. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges with Tai Mo Shan, a subsidiary of Jump Crypto, alleging the sale of LUNA as a security. As part of the settlement, Tai Mo Shan will pay $123 million.
The extradition of Do Kwon to the U.S. signifies a significant step in the ongoing legal saga surrounding the collapse of the Terra/Luna system. Stay tuned for further updates on this developing story.