- Terra founder Do Kwon sentenced to four months in jail for forging official documents.
- The duo can appeal within eight days of receiving written notification from the court.
A Montenegro court has sentenced Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to four months in jail after he was found guilty of forging official documents.
As per a 20 June BBC News report, Do Kwon was found guilty by a Basic Court in Podgorica, the national capital of Montenegro.
The duo has eight days to file an appeal against the judgement after receiving a written notification from the court.
Throughout his hearing, Kwon Do-hyung, also known as Do Kwon, has maintained his innocence. Though he accepted that there were mistakes when it came to managing Terra [LUNA], he maintained that there was never an aim to deceive investors.
Montenegro police arrested the South Korean national, along with former Terra finance officer Han Chang-Joon, in March, for allegedly possessing falsified documents.
U PODGORICI UHAPŠEN JEDAN OD NAJTRAŽENIJIH SVJETSKIH BJEGUNACA
Crnogrska policija lišila je slobode lice za koje se sumnja da je jedan od najtraženijih bjegunaca, južnokorejski državljanin Do Kwon, suosnivač i izvršni direktor Terraform Labs sa sjedištem u Singapuru.
1/2— Filip Adzic (@filip_adzic) March 23, 2023
The two have remained in detention since their arrest, despite local courts approving bail last week.
South Korea and the U.S. pursuing Do Kwon’s extradition
Kwon had been fleeing from the authorities for months. He had first entered South Korea, then fled to Singapore in the months leading to Terra’s crash in May 2022.
In September 2022, South Korean prosecutors asked Interpol to place him on the agency’s red alert list across the agency’s 195 member nations; the authorities also revoked his passport.
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Do Kwon and his company Terraform Labs for:
“Orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud.”
However, Do Kwon’s attorneys recently asked the judge to dismiss the SEC action. They alleged that the claims of the regulator were unwarranted.
Although Montenegro does not have extradition treaties with the United States or South Korea, both the countries have requested Do Kwon’s extradition. He may face criminal charges related to the collapse of crypto enterprise Terra in May 2022.
The debacle wiped out about $40 billion in investor assets and shocked the global crypto market.
