After a series of back-and-forths regarding Do Kwon's extradition, it appears the Terraform Labs co-founder and former CEO may finally be handed over to South Korean authorities after the Montenegro Court of Appeal upheld an earlier decision to extradite him to his country. native country.
The CEO of Terraform Labs, who was arrested in March 2023 with Kwon in Montenegro, had already been ordered to be extradited to the United States before the Court of Appeal intervened.
Do Kwon loses appeal against extradition to South Korea
The Court of Appeal of Montenegro, in a announcement on March 20, said it upheld a March decision by the High Court to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal of Montenegro rejected Kwon's appeal to overturn the decision of the Podgorica High Court.
Unlike the recent defeat, Kwon and his legal defense team won three different appeals to prevent the Terraform Labs co-founder from being extradited to South Korea or the United States.
While it previously appeared he was going to be deported to the United States, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's decision to extradite the former crypto tycoon to the United States, citing violations of criminal procedure.
Although it was not specified when the extradition would take place, South Korean police reportedly requested help from the Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to bring Kwon into the country.
South Korea versus the United States
The appeals court said in its recent statement that South Korea's request for Kwon's extradition preceded that of the United States, a factor that was taken into account by the high court.
“Ruling on the appeal of the defendant's lawyer, the panel of the Court of Appeal found that the trial court correctly established that the request of the Republic of South Korea had arrived earlier in the order of arrival than the request of the United States. , he therefore correctly assessed this and other criteria.
However, US prosecutors, who filed charges against the former Terraform Labs executive over the collapse of stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and the LUNA token, are seeking to fight Kwon's deportation to South Korea.
Kwon, who was arrested in Montenegro alongside Terraform's former legal director Han Chang-joon, was sentenced to four months in prison after being found guilty of carrying a false passport.
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