Montenegro says it extradites Terraform Lab co-founder Do Kwon to US
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FILE PHOTO: A police officer escorts Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon after he served a sentence for document forgery in Podgorica, Montenegro, March 23, 2024. REUTERS/Stevo Vasiljevic/File Photo
PODGORICA (Reuters) -Montenegro on Tuesday extradited Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to the United States, where he faces charges of having deceived investors about the stability of the TerraUSD cryptocurrency and how an app used the Terraform blockchain.
Kwon was handed over to U.S. law enforcement officers and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Podgorica airport, Montenegro's interior ministry said in a statement.
Kwon denies wrongdoing.
The South Korean national is the former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the TerraUSD, a "stablecoin" designed to maintain a constant $1 price, which collapsed in May 2022, roiling cryptocurrency markets.
Kwon, who was arrested in March 2023 while attempting to leave Montenegro, is also wanted by South Korea.
Last week, Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic ordered Kwon's extradition to the United States after the Supreme Court ruled all legal conditions were fulfilled.
The Justice Ministry said it had concluded that most legal criteria favoured the U.S.'s request for extradition. His lawyers said they had appealed against Bozovic's decision at the Constitutional Court.
Kwon and his company Terraform Labs were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2023 over the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies, which authorities have said caused about $40 billion of losses in crypto markets.
A stablecoin is a digital asset that aims to keep a stable price. Usually pegged to a currency, they are intended to be less volatile than other cryptocurrencies.
(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic, writing by Daria Sito-Sucicediting by Gareth Jones, Alexandra Hudson)
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