The court in Podgorica found the founder of Terraform Labs (TFL) Do Kwon guilty of document forgery while attempting to leave Montenegro.
He was sentenced to four months in prison. The same term was imposed on Han Chang-joon, the company’s former chief financial officer. They will be credited for time already served.
Earlier, Segye Ilbo reported that Kwon denied the charges in court. He allegedly did not know that the Costa Rican passport was fake. He placed the entire blame on a Singapore-based agency whose name he could not recall.
“I obtained the Belgian passport through another agency”, he added.
According to the CEO of TFL, there was no reason to doubt the authenticity of the Costa Rican document, as he had travelled with it for many years. Kwon also rejected accusations of financial donations to Milojko Spajić, the leader of the “Europe Now!” movement.
Korean media reports that for years, Do Kwon had secretly been sponsoring a prominent Montenegrin politician using illegal funds. Two days ago, a Montenegro high court approved Do Kwon’s bail request again, allowing for his release from prison. https://t.co/aNqYkKG70H
— FatMan (@FatManTerra) June 9, 2023
“This is categorically denied and not true,” said the lawyers for the head of TFL.
On 23 March, the Montenegrin police arrested the entrepreneur while attempting to fly out of Podgorica airport to Dubai on forged documents. In May, he and Han Chang-joon did not plead guilty.
In June, Kwon was released under house arrest, with bail set at €400,000 ($436,000).
Earlier, South Korea urged Montenegro to extradite Do Kwon to his homeland. The United States also seeks the extradition of the head of TFL, where he faces charges of fraud from the SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York.