Montenegro's Minister of Justice Signs Extradition Order for Do Kwon

Montenegro’s minister of justice, Bojan Božović, has signed the order to extradite Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the U.S., as announced by the ministry on Friday.

This decision comes after the Constitutional Court of Montenegro rejected Kwon’s appeal against a prior Supreme Court ruling earlier this week. The Supreme Court had nullified the Terra founder’s transfer to South Korea in September and stated that the final extradition decision would rest with the country’s minister of justice.

> “Taking into account the Supreme Court's ruling, the Ministry of Justice has considered all the facts and circumstances and assessed criteria,” the ministry announced.

Extradition Criteria

The assessment criteria for the extradition include:
– Severity of the criminal offenses
– Location of the crimes
– Order of extradition requests
– Kwon’s nationality
– Potential for further extradition to another country.

Extradition Ordeal

Kwon’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its sister cryptocurrency Luna collapsed in 2022, leading to billions in losses for investors worldwide. This incident prompted South Korean authorities, the U.S., and Interpol to seek his arrest.

The Terraform Labs founder and former CEO was arrested in Montenegro in March of last year for traveling with forged documents. After being released from prison in March this year, Kwon faced an extradition stalemate in Montenegro, as courts navigated requests from both the U.S. and South Korea.

The High Court in Montenegro initially ruled to extradite Kwon to the U.S. in February to face legal consequences regarding the Terra-Luna collapse of 2022. However, this decision was reversed in March in favor of extradition to South Korea, leading to a lengthy process of appeals, delays, and inconsistent rulings.

Kwon's attorneys are pursuing extradition to South Korea, where the maximum prison sentence for financial crimes is typically between 30 to 40 years. In contrast, the U.S. legal system may impose consecutive sentences for each conviction.

Additionally, Kwon's extradition case has ignited political scandals in Montenegro, with former Justice Minister Andrej Milovic accusing Prime Minister Milojko Spajić of favoring extradition to South Korea due to financial ties with Kwon.