The National Police Agency of South Korea is calling for help with extraditing Do Kwon shortly after a Montenegro court refused to send him to the United States.
Per a report from local outlet Newsis, the agency sent a telegram to the Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Thursday.
“We hope for interest and support at the Secretariat level so that the subject can be extradited to Korea,” reads a translation of the request.
“The Ministry of Justice’s International Criminal Division and the National Police Agency are working together to repatriate Mr. Kwon through the International Criminal Cooperation Channel and Interpol’s International Cooperation Line, respectively,” added Lee Yong-sang, an international cooperation officer.
- At writing time, the police agency is yet to hear back from Interpol.
- Do Kwon is the boastful crypto mogul behind the Terra (LUNA) blockchain – an algorithmic payment stablecoin network that imploded in May 2022 due to its unstable design after a brief stint in crypto’s top ten.
- The $44 billion blowup sparked a flurry of lawsuits against the founder and Terraform Labs, including a wide-ranging securities fraud lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- Kwon went “on the run” in various countries afterward before eventually being arrested and sentenced to prison in Montenegro for carrying a fake passport.
- Though a Montenegro court planned to extradite Kwon to the United States, this ruling was overturned on Monday, claiming that the initial ruling was made on misinformation that the U.S. had requested extradition ahead of South Korea.