Montenegrin authorities have officially handed over Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, to the United States following a lengthy legal dispute over his extradition. Kwon had been arrested in Montenegro in 2023 for attempting to travel with forged documents.
Extradition to the US Finalized
On December 31, Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajić confirmed in an X (formerly Twitter) post that Kwon was in US custody. The announcement came just days after Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović approved Kwon’s extradition to the US, rejecting South Korea’s competing request.
“Our nation welcomes innovation and legitimate crypto, AI, and tech entrepreneurs — but we have zero tolerance for fraud,” said Spajić. “This extradition reflects our firm commitment to international justice and the rule of law.”
A Central Figure in the Terra Collapse
Do Kwon is one of the key figures tied to the catastrophic collapse of the Terra blockchain ecosystem in 2022. The fallout from Terra’s implosion triggered a widespread downturn in the cryptocurrency market, leading to billions of dollars in losses.
Authorities in both the United States and South Korea filed criminal charges against Kwon and other Terraform executives, but his location remained a mystery until his arrest in Montenegro. After serving a four-month prison sentence for falsified travel documents, Kwon spent more than a year in legal limbo as courts debated whether to extradite him to the US or South Korea. His legal team repeatedly filed appeals, causing significant delays.
Charges and Penalties
In the US, Kwon faces eight felony charges, including commodities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to manipulate markets. He was also found liable for fraud in a separate civil case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2023. As a result, Kwon and Terraform Labs were ordered to pay $4.5 billion in penalties and disgorgements.
It remains unclear when Kwon will make his first court appearance in the US to answer the criminal charges following his extradition.
