The US authorities will challenge the extradition of the founder of Terra from Montenegro to South Korea
Prosecutors expected that on March 25, the businessman would appear in an American court on charges of fraud
The US Department of Justice intends to challenge the decision of the Podgorica High Court to extradite the founder of the Terra blockchain, Do Kwon, to South Korea, of which he is a citizen. Kwon was detained in Montenegro in March last year and served a sentence there for passport forgery, after which the country's authorities decided to extradite him to the United States. However, then the court of appeal rejected the decision and the case was sent for review, following which the businessman was decided to be extradited to the Korean authorities. The authorities of both countries have charged him with fraud in connection with the collapse of Terra, which brought multibillion-dollar losses to investors.
The Ministry of Justice clarified that the United States continues to seek the extradition of Kwon in accordance with international and bilateral agreements, as well as the legislation of Montenegro.
In addition, the US authorities expected that Kwon would already be delivered to the country in March, which would allow the start of a fraud trial. So, in January, the start date of the hearings was postponed to March 25.
Industry experts note that in his homeland, Kwon will receive a much more lenient sentence compared to the United States or will be acquitted altogether. So, in an interview with Bloomberg, the director of Swan Bitcoin and former legal adviser to Merrill Lynch, Terrence Young, called the decision of the court of Montenegro "mocking", since a significantly larger number of affected investors live in the United States with the largest share in the total damage from the collapse of Terra by $ 40 billion.
