Court in Montenegro Approves Do Kwon’s Extradition to the US or South Korea

Desk of Contents

A court docket in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, authorized Do Kwon, the founding father of the Terra ecosystem, extradition to both South Korea or the US. Montenegro’s Minister of Justice will resolve which nation Kwon goes to. 

On Friday, a court docket in Podgorica, the capital metropolis of Montenegro, announced that it authorized the extradition of disgraced crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon for extradition. The US and South Korea are each looking for Kwon’s extradition, and it’s now as much as the Justice Minister to resolve Kwon’s destiny. 

Kwon and Affiliate Discovered Responsible

Kwon was arrested at an airport in Montenegro in March after making an attempt to fly to Dubai utilizing falsified journey paperwork.

Kwon was arrested together with an affiliate, Han Chang-Joon. Two Costa Rican and Belgian passports, id playing cards belonging to Kwon and Joon, and laptops and different digital gadgets had been confiscated throughout their arrest.

Kwon and Joon had been sentenced to four months in jail by a Primary Courtroom in Montenegro. The duo was discovered responsible of forgery costs. 

After the responsible verdict in opposition to them was issued, Kwon appealed to overturn the passport fraud conviction the court docket imposed. His appeal was, however, rejected final week, and the responsible verdict was upheld. 

Extradition to South Korea Seems Extra Seemingly

Based on reports by Reuters, the Excessive Courtroom in Podgorica mentioned Do Kwon, a South Korean nationwide, agreed to be deported to South Korea beneath an abbreviated process. Nevertheless, Montenegro’s justice minister may have the ultimate say on the place he’s deported. The choice relating to his extradition will solely be made after Kwon completes his sentence for doc forgery. 

In September 2022, South Korea issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and charged him with violating the Capital Markets Acts. 

United States and South Korea Compete for Extradition

Now that an order of extradition has been granted, the query stands: who will get custody of Kwon?

Kwon is a South Korean nationwide, and the nation did situation an arrest warrant for him. US federal prosecutors, nevertheless, additionally indicted Kwon with two counts every of securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and conspiracy costs.  

When the query of extradition got here into query, Justice Minister Marko Kovac defined: 

“Within the case once we obtain a number of extradition requests, figuring out to which state they are going to be extradited relies on a number of components just like the severity of the dedicated prison offense, the placement and the time when the prison offense has been dedicated, the order during which we now have acquired the request for extradition and several other different components.” 

Disclaimer: This text is offered for informational functions solely. It’s not provided or meant for use as authorized, tax, funding, monetary, or different recommendation.