Following his arrest in Montenegro, authorities from both the United States and South Korea have worked to have Terra co-founder Do Kwon returned to their respective nations.
At a March 29 news briefing, Montenegrin Justice Minister Marko Kova stated that South Korean authorities had asked for extradition while the United States had made diplomatic attempts to request Kwon’s handover. Following Kwon’s arrest on March 23 at the Podgorica airport in Montenegro, Kovač made the statement, noting that the Terra co-founder’s detention had been increased to 30 days.
“In the case when we receive several extradition requests, I would like to say that determining to which state they will be extradited is based on several factors like the severity of the committed criminal offense, the location and time when the criminal offense has been committed, the order in which we have received the request for extradition and several other factors,” said Kovač.
Kovač stated that the top court of Montenegro will make the choices regarding Kwon’s custody. The Terra co-founder may serve time in Montenegro for those offenses if found guilty before any extradition is approved, according to the justice minister, who also claims that he used allegedly forged passports while there.
Kwon’s whereabouts were largely unknown after Terra’s demise in May 2022, despite being frequently active on Twitter and declaring in September that he was making “zero effort to hide.” In February, after Interpol issued a Red Notice for his provisional arrest, rumors surfaced that Kwon may have gone to Serbia, the European nation that borders Montenegro to the north.
Kwon, a South Korean national, would probably be prosecuted because Terraform Labs had its headquarters there, and law enforcement there has been looking for those responsible for the platform’s failure. Daniel Shin, a co-founder of Terra, was missing at the time of publishing; however, Han Chang-Joon, a close friend of Kwon, was also being held in Montenegro.
Uncertainty exists regarding which nation, if any, would have the greatest chance of receiving Kwon’s return. The scenario is similar to US efforts to take possession of Sam Bankman-Fried, a former FTX CEO who was in the Bahamas at the time of the exchange’s collapse.