Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon has faced a new legal setback after Montenegro’s Supreme Court once again approved the extradition.
With this decision, the previous extradition ruling by the High Court has been reversed, thereby resetting the whole process. The final decision now rests in the hands of the Minister of Justice, Andrej Milovic, who had previously expressed willingness towards extradition to the US.
According to a local report, the court based its decision on legal requirements for extradition to both South Korea and the US.
While Kwon’s legal team still has the option to appeal within three days, reports suggest a higher possibility of extradition to the US, given the Minister of Justice’s previous statements favoring the country.
In an interview last November, Milovic had said this decision would carry political significance. Although he didn’t disclose a preference for either country, the minister emphasized the importance of the US as a primary foreign policy ally. He was then quoted as saying,
“The US is our main foreign policy partner. We want to sign a bilateral extradition agreement as soon as possible, to create a legal framework for future extraditions.”
Kwon, a co-founder of Terraform Labs, disappeared in April 2022, just before the company collapsed.
He was later arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for passport forgery. After serving a four-month sentence, Kwon was released last month and transferred to a detention center for foreigners.
The latest decision comes as a huge blow to Kwon, who was looking for potential extradition to South Korea, where he could have leveraged his connections to receive a more lenient sentence, a scenario unlikely if he were sent to the US.
However, US prosecutors have been determined to prosecute the disgraced founder for his involvement in the $40 billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem.
Recently, a New York jury, comprising seven members, ruled against Kwon and Terraform in a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last year. The lawsuit centered around Kwon and Terraform’s claim that the popular Korean payment app, Chai, utilized its blockchain network for transactions. The jury also concluded that Kwon and his company misled investors about the stability of UST.