Terra founder Do Kwon won an extradition appeal to the US
Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon continues to work after a court in Montenegro overturned a lower court's decision to extradite the executive to the United States.
On March 5, the Montenegrin Court of Appeals ruled to overturn the Podgorica High Court's decision to approve Kwon's extradition to the United States.
According to the court, the High Court in Podgorica had previously granted Kwon's extradition to the United States on February 20 for several criminal offences.
The panel of the Court of Appeal found that the order given earlier by the High Court of Podgorica had the effect of “gross violations of the provisions of criminal procedure” on local laws.
“There are no clear and valid reasons for the material facts regarding the access request letter,” the panel said in the notice.
The final decision by the Montenegrin Court of Appeal marks another milestone in the long history of extradition proceedings against Kuo since his arrest in Montenegro in March 2023. The U.S. and South Korea have recently demanded Kwon's extradition amid a heated dispute over whether he is the founder of Terraform Labs. It should be sent to the country of origin or not.
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Montenegro's appeals court previously revoked Kwon's extradition to the US or South Korea in December 2023. He argued that the case should be returned to the Basic Court of Podgorica for retrial.
Podgorica's High Court previously ruled on the legal requirements for Kwon's extradition in November 2023, leaving the final decision on Kwon's extradition to Montenegro's justice minister.
Terraform Labs is the company behind the Terra blockchain, known for its Terra stablecoin and its associated Luna token, both of which collapsed in May 2022 due to suspected fraud. According to a report by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Terraform Labs and its co-founder Kwon orchestrated a fraud scheme that wiped out at least $40 billion from the market.
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