'Kwon Do-hyung of Terra·Luna, Finally Stands in US Court

Montenegro "Extradites to the US"

According to the Ministry of Justice on the 31st, the Montenegro Police Agency handed over Mr. Kwon to the US Department of Justice at Podgorica International Airport. This comes 1 year and 9 months after his arrest at Podgorica International Airport, the capital of Montenegro, on March 23, 2023.

Bojan Bozovic, the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, signed an order on the 27th to extradite Mr. Kwon to the United States. The Montenegro Ministry of Justice stated, "We comprehensively considered the seriousness of the crime, the place of the crime, the order of extradition requests, and the nationality of the criminal."

The Constitutional Court of Montenegro dismissed the constitutional appeal filed by Mr. Kwon on the 24th with a unanimous decision by all judges. The issue of the constitutional appeal was the legality of the Supreme Court's decision on September 19, 2024, to nullify the lower court's ruling on extradition to Korea and transfer the decision-making authority regarding extradition to the Minister of Justice.

Mr. Kwon's side argued that the extradition process was conducted unfairly and that there were errors in legal interpretation, but the Constitutional Court did not accept any of these claims. With the dismissal of the constitutional appeal, the extradition process for Mr. Kwon was resumed. Minister Bozovic, who held the final authority, decided to send Mr. Kwon to the United States three days after the Constitutional Court's decision.

Mr. Kwon is the co-founder of Terraform Labs, which issued the cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna. In 2022, the collapse of Terra and Luna caused more than 50 trillion won in damages to investors.

Reporter Park Si-on ushire908@hankyung.com