According to the Montenegrin Court of Appeal, the initial extradition order was “affected by substantial irregularities,” therefore they overturned it and deported Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs.
An official court statement states that during a hearing on February 7 to consider Kwon’s appeal, the court opted to cancel the extradition.
The High Court of Podgorica’s December decision has Do Kwon’s extradition in the works. Falsified documents led to his detention.
Do Kwon’s legal team challenged the verdict only weeks after the ruling, allowing the troubled former CEO to remain in the country until the outcome of the lawsuit.
The fact that the extradition occurred amidst serious breaches of criminal process was one of numerous reasons given in court filings to overturn it.
The paper states that the rulings lack clear reasoning, contain unintelligible terminology, and do not have any basis in conclusive facts.
On top of that, the High Court’s decision disregarded the correct extradition order, and it was South Korea that sought such an order first, before any other nation.
In light of the growing number of extradition petitions from the US and South Korea, this ruling remands the matter to the High Court for a new trial and permits Do Kwon to stay in the nation.
According to people acquainted with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported in December that there were intentions to extradite Do Kwon to the US instead of South Korea.
If proven guilty, Do Kwon may face a longer term in South Korea, which has always argued that it is the best place to deliver justice to him and his accused accomplices.
The Montenegrin authorities deported Han Chang-joon to South Korea last week; he was Terraform Labs’ former CFO.
“On behalf of the NCB Interpol Podgorica officers and the Special Police Unit, we now transfer J.C.H. to the relevant judicial and police authorities of South Korea. They will prosecute him for many fraud-related charges.”
After an international quest for Do Kwon ended in Chang-joon’s arrest in the country, the two were both sentenced to four months in prison for forging papers.
This is a significant development in Do Kwon’s situation. The failure of the Terra Network in 2022, which wiped out billions from the market, is reportedly the result of poor policies, and Kwon is one of numerous people accused of this.
Regulatory constraints persisted throughout the bear market as a result of increased regulatory pressure on the industry as a whole as a result of Terra’s stablecoin disaster.
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