Montenegro Court Rejects Do Kwon’s Extradition Appeal

On December 25, a Montenegrin court dismissed the appeal by Terra founder Do Kwon to cancel his extradition. The decision to hand over the entrepreneur to authorities in the US or South Korea was delegated to the country’s Minister of Justice, Bojan Božović.

The entrepreneur and his colleague, former CFO of Terraform Labs Han Chang-Joon, were arrested on March 23, 2023, at Podgorica airport while attempting to fly to Dubai using fake passports.

At that time, Kwon was already on an international wanted list due to his involvement in the Terra collapse. Montenegro’s Interior Minister Filip Adžić described him as “one of the most wanted fugitives,” responsible for damages exceeding $40 billion.

Following Kwon’s arrest, authorities in the US and South Korea submitted competing extradition requests. The entrepreneur repeatedly challenged attempts by the Montenegrin court to approve his transfer to one of the countries.

In March 2024, Kwon was released from prison after serving a sentence for using forged documents at the border. He was prohibited from leaving Montenegro during the proceedings.

In September, officials referred the case to the Minister of Justice, but after another appeal by Kwon, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro intervened. After several months of deliberations, the authority to decide was returned to the minister.

In September, Terraform Labs was granted permission to liquidate the company as part of bankruptcy proceedings.