A courtroom in Montenegro has rejected an enchantment from Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon that would have blocked his extradition to South Korea.
In a March 20 announcement, the Appellate Court docket of Montenegro stated it had upheld a call from the nation’s excessive courtroom permitting Kwon to be extradited to South Korea, the place he holds citizenship. The Terraform Labs co-founder might face “a number of legal offenses” if the extradition strikes ahead.
“Deciding on the enchantment of the defendant’s counsel, the panel of the Court docket of Appeals assessed that the first-instance courtroom had appropriately established that the request of the Republic of South Korea arrived earlier within the order of arrival in comparison with the request of the USA,” stated the appellate courtroom. “[It] decided permitting the extradition of the accused Do Kwon to South Korea.”
Authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon in March 2023 for utilizing falsified journey paperwork in March 2023. Since then, he has remained within the nation as the US and South Korea filed competing requests for extraditing the Terraform co-founder.
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The legal case towards Kwon within the U.S., the place he faces eight felony counts, will seemingly be shifting ahead even when he isn’t capable of seem in particular person. A Montenegrin courtroom dominated in February that Kwon be extradited to the U.S., however his attorneys efficiently appealed that call in March, resulting in South Korea’s declare taking the lead.
Throughout Kwon’s time at Terraform Labs, the agency collapsed in Could 2022 due partly to its dealing with of tokens previously known as TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA). The autumn of the platform seemingly contributed to a crypto market downturn in 2022, through which a number of companies declared chapter or in any other case collapsed.
It’s unclear what, if any, authorized maneuvers Kwon’s attorneys have at their disposal to struggle the extradition to South Korea. The nation’s authorities has been imposing harsh penalties on criminals concerned in crypto-related offenses following the collapse of Terra.
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