Terra founder Do Kwon wins appeal against US extradition

The latest overruling by the Appellate Court of Montenegro marks another event in the long history of Kwons extradition process after his arrest in March 2023.

The saga of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon continues to unfold as a court in Montenegro has again overruled a lower court decision to extradite the executive to the United States.

The Appellate Court of Montenegro ruled on March 5 to annul the decision of the High Court of Podgorica approving Kwons extradition to the United States, according to an official statement.

According to the court, the High Court in Podgorica previously allowed the extradition of Kwon to the U.S. for the purpose of criminal prosecution for several criminal offenses on Feb. 20.

The panel of the Appellate Court argued that the previous order by the High Court in Podgorica was affected by “significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure” of the local laws.

“There are no clear and valid reasons for decisive facts regarding the order of arrival request letter,” the panel stated in the announcement.

The latest overruling by the Appellate Court of Montenegro marks another event in the long history of Kwon‘s extradition process after he was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023. Both the U.S. and South Korea requested Kwon’s extradition shortly, driving major arguments on whether the Terraform Labs founder should be sent to his native country or not.

The Appellate Court of Montenegro previously canceled the extradition approval of Kwon to either the U.S. or South Korea in December 2023, arguing that the case should be returned to the Podgorica Basic Court for retrial.

The High Court of Podgorica previously determined the legal requirements for Kwon‘s extradition in November 2023, leaving the final decision on Kwon’s extradition to the minister of justice of Montenegro.

Terraform Labs is a company behind the Terra blockchain, known for its Terra stablecoin and the associated Luna token, both collapsed in May 2022 due to alleged fraud. According to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, Terraform Labs and its co-founder Kwon orchestrated a fraudulent scheme that led to at least $40 billion being wiped out from the market.