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| Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon's Extradition Likely Delayed as Montenegro Prioritizes Passport Forgery Investigation |
Terraform Labs CEO, Do Kwon, who was arrested in Montenegro for alleged passport forgery, is unlikely to be extradited soon, according to a prosecutor investigating the case. The prosecutor stated that the Montenegrin authorities intend to indict Kwon within a month, which rules out the possibility of him being extradited to other countries within the detention period. The investigation of crimes that took place within Montenegro’s jurisdiction is a priority for the authorities in the small Balkan nation, and the alleged passport forgery is subject to an ongoing investigation.
Kwon, who co-founded Terraform Labs, was detained on March 23, 2023, while attempting to board a flight to Dubai using a fake Costa Rican passport. He disappeared after departing for Singapore in April 2022, before the collapse of the two coins, UST and Terra. He reportedly registered a new firm in Serbia before eventually ending up in neighboring Montenegro.
South Korea, the United States, and Singapore are all trying to secure Kwon’s extradition, but the prosecutor emphasized that the fake passport case investigation will be prioritized. The goal is to indict Kwon within the 30-day detention period. If convicted of forgery of official documents, Kwon may receive up to five years in prison, according to Montenegro’s law.
The prosecutor declined to discuss the matter of extradition in detail, as it’s not up to the prosecution to decide on the requests. However, he noted that they can only move on to the next step after the prosecution of the passport forgery case is over, and they are not interested in the issue of extradition at this time. Kwon is currently held in the Spuž detention center near the Montenegrin capital.
