Montenegro has extradited cryptocurrency tycoon Do Kwon to the United States

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro was handed over on Tuesday The South Korean mogul known as the “crypto king” of the United StatesThe authorities of the Balkan country said that the country, following the Justice Ministry’s decision earlier this month to accept a US request, while rejecting South Korea’s extradition request.

Police said officers of Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Montenegro handed over Do Kwon Founder of Singaporean cryptocurrency company Terraform LabsTo FBI officers at the border crossing at Podgorica Airport.

A police statement said: “Today, on December 31, 2024, he (Do Kwon) was handed over to the relevant law enforcement authorities in the United States of America and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

The move comes in the wake of a months-long legal saga in Do Kwon’s case. both of them South Korea and the United States had requested Do Kwon’s extraditionOver the past months, various courts in Montenegro have issued and invalidated multiple rulings extraditing Kwon either to the United States or his country of origin.

He and Another South Korean was arrested In Montenegro in March 2023 while trying to leave for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, using fake Costa Rican passports. Kwon served a prison sentence in Montenegro for using a fake passport.

Kwon has been charged in the US with fraud by federal prosecutors in New York in connection with Terraform Labs’ $40 billion cryptocurrency collapse, which devastated retail investors around the world.

Kwon and five others linked to Terraform were wanted for fraud and financial crimes in connection with the collapse of its cryptocurrency in May 2022.

TerraUSD is designed to be a “stablecoin,” a currency pegged to stable assets such as the dollar to prevent radical price fluctuations. However, about $40 billion was wiped off the market capitalization of holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister coin, Luna, after the stablecoin fell to well below the $1 exchange rate.