Do Kwon, the founding father of Terraform Labs, which operated the stablecoin TerraUSD and its sister token LUNA, was arrested in Montenegro on Thursday as he tried to board a flight to flee to Dubai with falsified paperwork.
Hours after Kwon was arrested on the airport in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, U.S. prosecutors charged Kwon with eight indictments, together with securities fraud and conspiracy, for its alleged function within the decline of TerraUSD and LUNA, which worn out an estimated $40 billion in worth from the crypto market. Interpol additionally confirmed the id of Kwon on Thursday, by CNN.
And after? We do not know which nation Kwon shall be despatched to as he now faces prison prices. within the USA in addition to his native nation, South Korea. Each international locations look like in search of Kwon’s extradition.
A spokesperson for South Korean prosecutors informed forexcryptozone they’re speaking with “associated events” about Kwon’s extradition to the nation as quickly as attainable. The spokesperson didn’t specify which nation Kwon can be moved to from Montenegro, how lengthy it could take or the id of the associated events.
Kwon has been underneath investigation for 11 months because the Terra/LUNA collapse, which worn out an estimated $40 billion from the cryptocurrency market.
In mid-September, Kwon tweeted“I’m not ‘on the run’ or something like that – to any authorities company that has expressed an curiosity in speaking, we’re in full cooperation and don’t have anything to cover.”
“We’re defending ourselves in a number of jurisdictions – we’ve held ourselves to a particularly excessive bar of integrity and sit up for clarifying the reality over the approaching months,” he stated on the time.
In late September, his whereabouts had been unknown and Interpol issued a pink discover asking regulation enforcement around the globe to seek for and arrest him. Shortly thereafter, the South Korean authorities ordered Kwon to give up his passport or danger revoking it.
Do Kwon stated final October that the costs introduced towards him by South Korean prosecutors weren’t reliable and had been politically motivated.
Quick ahead to February, South Korean prosecutors traveled to Serbia, suspecting that was the place Kwon was staying. In mid-February, the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee accused Terraform Labs and Kwon of defrauding U.S. traders who purchased its crypto property, LUNA, and the not-so-stable stablecoin, Terra.