Montenegro will extradite Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to the United States, according to recent reports.
On Dec. 27, local news outlets reported that Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović approved Do Kwon’s extradition to the United States. Božović signed the extradition order a day after Montenegro’s Constitutional Court dismissed Kwon’s constitutional appeal.
Do Kwon appeal quashed
With the court’s ruling, the choice of whether to send the Terraform Labs founder to South Korea or the United States fell to the country’s Minister of Justice.
In his appeal, Kwon argued that the extradition process was unfair and contained legal errors. The Constitutional Court did not find those arguments persuasive, rejecting the appeal and paving the way for the final extradition decision.
South Korean national Do Kwon has been the subject of investigations by both U.S. and South Korean authorities since the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna. The projects imploded in May 2022, erasing more than $40 billion in market value and triggering a contagion that affected numerous companies, including several crypto lenders.
Kwon disappeared for a period and was later arrested in Montenegro in March 2023, beginning a protracted extradition process.
In June 2024, Terraform Labs reached a $4.5 billion settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Following the settlement, the company announced it would cease operations.