Good day everyone,
I hope you are all well and had an excellent week, welcome to CryptoGod-1’s blog on all things crypto. In this post I will be looking at the recent decision by the Montenegrin Courts to approve extradition for Terra founder Do Kwon. He is facing extradition to either South Korea or the United States.
Do Kwon’s Extradition Approved
A court in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, has given approval for the extradition of the founder of Terra, Do Kwon. He will be extradited to either South Korea or the United States as per a recent update on the judiciary's website. The final decision on his destination will be taken by the Montenegrin Justice Minister. Although approval has been given, before the extradition process takes place Kwon will need to serve a four month prison sentence in Montenegro for his crimes in document forgery.
Kwon was arrested back in March 2023 at Podgorica’s airport where he was found with falsified documents. That is the least of Kwon's worries when considering he faces multiple counts of fraud charges by U.S. federal prosecutors. They have claimed Kwon made a series of false and misleading statements during a TV interview about the extent to which the Terra blockchain had been adopted by users. Kwon also made a series of purportedly misleading statements about the effectiveness of the TerraClassicUSD stablecoin and its ability to keep its peg with the US dollar. Finally, they also claim Kwon was involved in trading strategies that were designed to alter the market price of assets.
All of these charges are in addition to existing civil charges he faces within the U.S. along with an ongoing investigation in South Korea related to last year's TerraUSD collapse.
The Montenegro High Court recently confirmed it is upholding the four-month prison sentence for Kwon and his associate Han Chang-Joon for document falsification. Both had appealed but the courts deemed their sentence appropriate, with Kwon now facing the prospect of extradition to South Korea or the U.S. after serving his sentence in Montenegro
Daniel Shin
The co-founder of Terraform Labs, Daniel Shin, was indicted in South Korea back in April 2023 for violations of capital markets laws. The prosecutors have frozen $185 million of his assets, but Shin denies any involvement in the collapse of the company. He stated that he had left the company two years prior to the incident. Shin is the founder of Chai, which established a business partnership with Terra.
Shin claimed his partnership with TerraLabs discontinued back in 2020, but a 2022 interview on a YouTube channel shows Shin explaining how Chai products could be “topped up” at Terra “stations.” This is a clear indication that the partnership was still very much alive and well back in early 2022. The video of Shin making this claim was posted three weeks before the Terra ecosystem crash.
Shin went on to claim that the video and its contents were misinterpreted, with his legal team clarifying in a statement that Shin “has not participated in Terra’s management since parting ways with Kwon” back in 2020.
His legal team went on to add that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had issued charges against Kwon. They noted how the charges made no mention of Shin and used this as an indication that the SEC did not think he was connected with fraud or securities-related violations.
The TerraUSD stablecoin made use of a mix of algorithms and trader incentives with its sister token, Luna, to maintain its $1 peg. This system fell apart in May of 2022 when the stablecoin lost its dollar peg after a wave of sell-offs hit the crypto market and the stablecoins value fell by 97%.
Have a great day,
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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