Kwon Do-hyeong, who is being investigated in several countries for alleged fraud related to the collapse of the Terraform Labs cryptocurrency project he led, will have a court hearing on May 11 in Montenegro on charges of allegedly attempting to travel using a false passport, according to the court website in Podgorica, the country’s capital.
See related article: From billionaire to Montenegro jail: The rapid rise and fall of Terra chief Do Kwon
Fast facts
- Kwon was arrested March 23 at the airport in Podgorica with Terraform Labs chief financial officer Han Chang-joon. They have both been detained in the country since. Kwon was under an Interpol red notice requesting his detention.
- They reportedly were attempting to travel to Dubai and allegedly held several travel documents and identification papers under different names. Both Kwon and Han are South Korean nationals.
- The Montenegrin court announced the indictment of Kwon and Han on April 21 and extended their detention due to flight risk.
- Kwon is wanted in the U.S. and South Korea where prosecutors accuse him of fraud and several other charges related to the collapse of the Singapore-based US$40 billion Terra-Luna stablecoin and cryptocurrency project in May last year.
- Kwon has denied all the charges against him. Terraform Labs has stated that South Korea’s investigation of Terra-Luna has become highly politicized and claims the accusations are baseless.
- In a related development, Kwon’s lawyers in the U.S. asked a court in the Southern District of New York court to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that accuses the Terraform Labs leader of fraud involving “crypto asset securities.”
- Kwon lawyers said the Terra stablecoin is a currency and that the SEC’s assertion of securities regulations over digital assets is unlawful, Bloomberg reported Saturday citing the legal filing.
See related article: South Korean prosecutors to freeze US$5.36 million of Do Kwon’s assets, some in Switzerland