Bojan Božovic, the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, has done so He signed an order to refund Terraform Labs co-founder to Kwon to the United States
The Supreme Court of Montenegro recently declared that all the legal requirements for extradition of Kwon have been met. Following this ruling, the Department of Justice evaluated the competing requests and concluded that the US request has the highest legal standard.
Secretary Bujovic subsequently signed an order to extradite Kwon to the United States, denying South Korea's request.
In a statement, the Justice Department explained its reasons, citing factors such as the severity of the alleged crimes, where they were committed, the timing of the requests and Coven's citizenship.
The decision came after months of legal review and competing extradition requests from the US and South Korea. Recently, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro It was rejected unanimously Kwon's request to avoid extradition, citing legal issues.
Koven's legal team has raised concerns about the extradition, claiming that the Montenegrin judicial system has violated his fundamental rights and his client's rights to defense and legal defense by refusing to decide on their requests. .
Potentially the end of a long battle
Kwon faces significant legal challenges in the United States. In February 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against Kwon Labs and Terraform, alleging that they misled investors about the stability of TerraUSD and the use of Terraform's blockchain technology in a popular Korean mobile payment app. have done
A month later, authorities arrested Coven as he tried to travel from Montenegro using a fake passport.
Authorities have charged him with various crimes related to the collapse TerraUSD and Luna Tokens, which lost almost $40 billion. In addition, in June, a US court fined Kwon $4.5 billion after Failure to settle the account Civil action with the SEC.
Meanwhile, South Korea has also shown strong interest in prosecuting Kwon. An appeals court previously upheld a decision to prioritize South Korea's extradition request over the United States.
However, former Montenegrin Justice Minister Andrii Milovic argued that the country's Prime Minister, Milojko Spaich, used the extradition as leverage for the country's 30-year airport concession with South Korea.
