Do Kwon’s appeal to halt extradition to South Korea turned down by Montenegrin court.

An appeal from Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, has been rejected by a court in Montenegro, which has cleared the way for his extradition to South Korea. The Appellate Court of Montenegro announced on March 20 that it has upheld a previous decision allowing Kwon to be extradited to South Korea, where he holds citizenship. If the extradition proceeds, Kwon could potentially face multiple criminal charges. The appellate court stated that it agreed with the initial court’s ruling that South Korea’s extradition request was received prior to the request from the United States. Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for using forged travel documents and has since been awaiting extradition as both the US and South Korea have submitted competing requests. In the US, Kwon is facing eight felony charges, and the criminal case against him is expected to proceed even if he is unable to physically appear in court. In February, a Montenegrin court ordered Kwon’s extradition to the US, but this decision was successfully appealed in March, leading to South Korea’s claim taking precedence. Kwon’s time at Terraform Labs coincided with the collapse of the firm, partly due to its mishandling of TerraUSD (UST) and Luna (LUNA) tokens. This platform failure likely contributed to the overall downturn in the crypto market in 2022, with several companies going bankrupt or collapsing. It remains uncertain what legal options Kwon’s lawyers have to contest his extradition to South Korea, as the country’s government has been imposing severe penalties on individuals involved in crypto-related crimes following the Terra collapse.