Montenegro’s Excessive Courtroom has determined to extradite former crypto magnate Do Kwon to the US as a substitute of his dwelling nation, South Korea, native media reported on Feb. 21.
The choice marks a pivotal flip within the worldwide authorized saga surrounding Kwon, the founding father of Terraform Labs, who faces fees associated to monetary crimes in each international locations. The timeline for his extradition is unclear and will take a number of weeks or months to finalize.
Extradition processes can fluctuate in size and complexity, relying on the authorized frameworks, the cooperation between the concerned international locations, and any potential appeals or additional authorized actions that may be taken by the events concerned.
Given the high-profile nature of Kwon’s case and the involvement of a number of jurisdictions, it’s seemingly that the extradition course of will probably be intently monitored and topic to strict procedures to make sure its legality and equity.
Political concerns
The appellate court docket had beforehand directed the Excessive Courtroom to find out whether or not Kwon could be extradited to South Korea or the US, as each states had made official requests. Whereas preliminary rulings confirmed the eligibility for Kwon’s extradition, the choice on the place to ship him was left to Justice Minister Andrej Milović.
Nevertheless, the appellate court docket later overturned the ruling and clarified that the Justice Minister’s decision-making position solely applies in common extradition proceedings. Since Kwon consented to extradition in a fast-track course of, the ultimate resolution fell to the court docket.
Kwon’s protection, led by lawyer Goran Rodić, had argued for his shopper’s extradition to South Korea based mostly on authorized grounds, together with the European Extradition Conference, a bilateral settlement with America, and Montenegro’s regulation on worldwide authorized help.
Regardless of these arguments, the court docket has determined to extradite Kwon to the US, reflecting deeper political concerns, as Milović beforehand acknowledged that the US is Montenegro’s principal international coverage associate.
Faux paperwork
The saga started when Kwon and his affiliate Han Chang Jun had been arrested in March final yr at Podgorica Airport, trying to fly to Dubai with faux Costa Rican passports.
Additional investigation revealed in addition they possessed Belgian journey paperwork, which they claimed to have obtained by an company in Singapore for international journey.
Throughout the court docket proceedings in Podgorica, Kwon defined that the Belgian passports had incorrect names and birthdates, in order that they opted to make use of the Costa Rican passports to journey as a substitute.
Kwon additional claimed that he was unaware that the Costa Rican passports had been faux because the issuing company had appeared professional.
He stated his belief within the issuing company was based mostly on earlier profitable functions, together with a denied request for Grenada passports however an authorized one for Costa Rica, which constructed their confidence within the company’s reliability.
