The Council of the Supreme Court will now decide whether to extradite Kwon to South Korea, where his sentence might be less severe than those in the United States.
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs who is facing fraud charges, has been freed from detention in Montenegro.
His release is pending the Supreme Court’s consideration of the merits of South Korea’s and the United States’ extradition requests. Following the Supreme Court’s postponement of a lower court’s decision to extradite Kwon to South Korea, Bloomberg announced his release on March 23.
The Terra crash in 2022, which caused the cryptocurrency market to lose almost $60 billion, provides a backdrop against which this judicial drama is playing out. Kwon was released from prison after serving his time for having fabricated documents, even though he was charged with fraud in both South Korea and the United States.
“We released Do Kwon from prison as his regular prison term for traveling with fake papers ended,” said prison administrator Darko Vukcevic.
Due to his foreign citizenship and the withholding of his documents, he was brought for an interview at the police directorate for foreigners, where he will now be handled. Kwon’s possible extradition to South Korea, where he would face less severe punishments than those in the United States, is currently up for decision by the Supreme Court’s Council.
Kwon might be prosecuted in the US for eight felonies related to the substantial failure of TerraUSD, which might fetch $40 billion in 2022. Kwon’s attorney confirmed his release and mentioned that his passport was seized by the government to keep him from leaving Montenegro.
After being freed, Kwon was sent to a non-national facility, and his lawyer said he would ask for a court order allowing him to stay free until an extradition decision was made.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae
