Court Blocks Do Kwon Extradition, Cites Procedural Violations

Less than a month ago, the jig was up for Do Kwon. The disgraced founder of Terraform Labs, cited as responsible for the disastrous collapse of TerraUSD in mid-2022, had been officially extradited to South Korea to face fraud charges. There was even speculation that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might get its paws on him too, sparking a political contest between South Korea and the United States. However, the December 29 ruling from the High Court of Montenegro has officially been overturned – even though Do Kwon’s CFO has already been extradited to the Asian nation.

“Violations of the Provisions of Criminal Procedure”

An appellate panel reviewing the High Court’s decision to extradite Do Kwon found “significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure.” 

Specifically, it appears the High Court failed to abide by several regulations surrounding Montenegro’s extradition process, including how to order the retrieval requests from both the US and South Korea. Additionally, the court’s decision-making was supposedly not in line with a newer, shortened procedure.

What does this mean?

Well, for now, it appears that Do Kwon is still the responsibility of the Montenegrin authorities, after he was nabbed in 2023 for travelling with a falsified passport. However, his four-month jail term has since expired, so technically, Kwon is a “free man”.

Even though Terraform Labs officially filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, Kwon’s Serbian venture Codokoj22 d.o.o. Was registered for the equivalent of one US dollar in 2022 as a consultancy service. Whether the business actually does anything is another question, but it is still active, according to the Serbian business registry.