Extradition of crypto fugitive Do Kwon delayed after forgery charge in Montenegro
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Cryptocurrency fugitive Do Kwon and his associate have been indicted for forgery in Montenegro, effectively delaying their extradition to South Korea.
Kwon, 31, and his associate, Han Chang-joon, were accused of forging personal documents. Montenegro prosecutors have also requested to extend the detention of Kwon, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, and Han in the Balkan country, a prosecutor’s office official from the country’s capital of Podgorica confirmed in an email to Bloomberg.
Although the request to extend their detention has been sent, a Montenegro court still needs to decide if the request will be granted.
Under the Balkan country’s law, those caught forging personal documents could face a maximum prison sentence of five years, Montenegro Justice Minister Marko Kovac said, Korea Times reported.
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However, those imprisoned for document forgery reportedly usually only serve up to six months in prison.
Kwon was arrested at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro on March 23, nearly a year after he went into hiding following the nosedive crash of his now-defunct cryptocurrency TerraUSD and its sister coin, Luna, in May 2022.
Investors around the world lost approximately $42 billion upon the collapse of the two cryptocurrencies.
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Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, became an international fugitive after Interpol issued a red notice on him in September 2022, shortly after the South Korean court issued an arrest warrant on him.
South Korean prosecutors had been chasing after Kwon for months, a trail that led them to Serbia in December 2022.
Besides South Korea, the United States is also seeking to extradite Kwon.
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He currently faces securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy charges in the U.S.
On Friday, Kwon's lawyers filed a motion to drop all charges against the defunct cryptocurrency co-founder.
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