Do Kwon, the man behind the collapse of the Terra/Luna cryptocurrency system, is about to be sent to the United States to face serious charges. The Montenegrin Justice Minister, Bojan Božović, announced on Friday that Kwon will be extradited, following a Supreme Court ruling in Montenegro that agreed with the U.S. request.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023, but his troubles started long before that. He was one of the key figures in the collapse of the Terra/Luna cryptocurrency system in 2022, which caused massive losses for investors and set off a chain reaction of other major financial collapses, including the downfall of the FTX exchange. The collapse of Terra shook the entire crypto world, and Kwon has been facing criminal charges in both the U.S. and South Korea ever since.
While Kwon had been fighting to avoid extradition for over a year, the courts in Montenegro have ruled that he will be sent to the U.S. Kwon has been in jail in Montenegro on charges of passport forgery, but the legal fight over where he should be sent has been ongoing. The U.S. government and South Korea had both requested to take him into custody and now the U.S. has won the battle.
The Montenegrin Justice Ministry said that it carefully considered all factors before making its decision, including the severity of the crimes, where the crimes took place, and the requests from both the U.S. and South Korea. According to the statement, the U.S. request met all the necessary criteria.
This is just the latest chapter in Kwon’s long legal saga. Earlier this year, a court in Montenegro had decided that Kwon should be sent to South Korea, but now the U.S. has finally won. The legal battle continues in the U.S., where the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently reached a settlement with a company connected to the Terra collapse, which will pay $123 million for selling the LUNA cryptocurrency as an illegal security.
Kwon’s extradition is a significant step in a case that has captured global attention. The fallout from the Terra crash is far from over, and Kwon will now have to face the consequences in the U.S. courtroom.
