The Montenegrin Constitutional Court has rejected Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon’s appeal against his extradition.
The court’s unanimous ruling removed an important legal obstacle and paved the way for a final decision by the country’s Justice Minister Bojan Božović.
Kwon’s legal team had argued that an earlier Supreme Court decision giving the justice minister the power to extradite him violated procedural justice and his right to a fair trial. However, Montenegro’s Supreme Court found these arguments unfounded, nullifying its last line of defense.
Source: X
There is a lot at stake. Both the United States and South Korea are pushing for Kwon’s extradition to face financial charges related to the infamous $40 billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022, one of the largest crypto scams was in history. According to reports, the United States may be the most likely destination, in line with the preferences of the Montenegrin Justice Ministry.
A global ripple effect
Kwon’s arrest in March 2023 at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro for traveling on a fake passport made international headlines. His case has since become a global litmus test for how nations deal with cross-border cryptocurrency crime.
Key transactions that triggered the Terra stablecoin collapse on May 7, 2022. Source: Chain analysis
The collapse of Terra was no ordinary financial debacle. When TerraUSD (UST) and Luna broke up, they wiped out billions of dollars, shaking investor confidence and accelerating the “crypto winter” of 2022. The fallout exposed systemic flaws in major platforms like FTX and Celsius, which…
