Terraform Labs co-founder and crypto fugitive Do Kwon set for extradition to South Korea
Do Kwon, Terraform Labs co-founder, faces extradition to South Korea following a Montenegrin court ruling, amidst multiple lawsuits and corporate collapse.
Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, is set for extradition to South Korea following a ruling by the Appellate Court of Montenegro on August 1. This decision reverses an earlier denial of a U.S. extradition request by the High Court of Podgorica in April, further complicating Kwon's legal battles since his March 2023 arrest in Montenegro for carrying falsified travel documents.
Terraform Labs, founded in 2018, saw a collapse in May 2022 that wiped out at least $40 billion in market value, leading to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Delaware earlier this year. Both the U.S. and South Korea pursued Kwon's extradition for fraud and financial crimes, with the U.S. SEC suing Kwon and Terraform in February 2023 for allegedly defrauding investors in TerraUSD and Luna.
The U.S. Department of Justice has continued to seek Kwon's extradition under international agreements. Terraform Labs agreed to pay the U.S. SEC nearly $4.5 billion to settle a civil securities fraud lawsuit, with Kwon personally contributing $204 million. The company is now undergoing a strategic sale process as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 case.