The founder of Terraform Labs could be transferred to the United States instead of South Korea to stand trial for a multibillion-dollar ecosystem collapse involving LUNA and UST.
Do Kwon, creator of the Terra blockchain, could be extradited to the United States for criminal prosecution in early 2024, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The final decision rests with Montenegrin Justice Minister Andrej Milovic, who has told a few officials of his plans to hand over Kwon to US authorities. According to the Wall Street Journal, Milovic also briefed the US ambassador.
Kwon has been the subject of a dispute between his home country of South Korea and the US, where Terra had thousands of users, over which government should prosecute the former crypto billionaire turned fugitive.
Both governments reportedly plan to put Kwon on trial for fraud and securities violations. In South Korea, prosecutors said Terra’s former CEO violated Capital Markets Laws, a crime that could result in up to 40 years in prison.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Kwon for offering unregistered securities on TerraLuna and leveraging misleading marketing material to promote TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin that crashed along with the Terra ecosystem in the summer of 2022.
His attorneys sought to dismiss the case while SEC prosecutors pushed for a summary judgment.
Do Kwon had been imprisoned in the Balkan nation since March 2023 after authorities arrested him at a Podgorica airport with a forged Costa Rican passport.
News of Kwon’s extradition to the US came on the heels of his appeal of a court ruling approving his transfer out of Montenegro, crypto.news reported, although previous appeals to overturn his four-month prison sentence were denied.
