South Korea’s police agency said it has confirmed the identity of a man arrested in Montenegro in Europe as the Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-hyung, who is wanted on charges of fraud related to the collapse of the stablecoin and cryptocurrency project he led. The police said they confirmed his identity by fingerprints. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office told Forkast on Friday it is seeking extradition of the Terraform founder, usually known as Do Kwon.
See related article: FBI investigating the collapse of Do Kwon’s Terra-Luna, WSJ reports
Fast facts
- Montenegro authorities detained two persons identified as Kwon and Han Chang-jun, former chief executive officer of Terra-affiliated company Chai Corporation, on Thursday at an airport in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, the South Korean police agency said in a phone interview.
- The two, both South Korean nationals, were allegedly traveling using forged documents.
- Kwon faces multiple charges in South Korea including fraud and violations of the capital markets law after his Terra-Luna stablecoin and crypto project imploded, blowing away about US$40 billion in market capitalization in May last year.
- South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September and nullified his South Korean travel documents, soon followed by Interpol issuing a so-called Red Notice that asked law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest the Terra founder.
- Kwon’s arrest comes after Terraform Labs co-founder Shin Hyun-seung, also known as Daniel Shin, was called in for questioning by South Korean prosecutors earlier this week. Prosecutors had failed to convince the court to approve an arrest warrant for Shin in December, after the presiding judge said he was cooperating with the investigation.
- U.S. prosecutors have indicted Kwon on eight charges including securities fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy, and are seeking his extradition to New York, according to Bloomberg.
- (Updates headline, throughout with comment from South Korea.)
See related article: South Korea cranks up pressure to extradite Do Kwon, founder of failed Terra-Luna stablecoin
