Former ‘King of Cryptocurrency’ Do Kwon Reportedly Arrested in Montenegro

According to a statement by Filip Adžić, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro, a person suspected to be the co-founder of Terra, Do Kwon, was arrested on the territory of Montenegro on March 23. Since this was first reported, the local news agency Vijesti confirmed that the Twitter account that published this information belongs to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro and that the arrested individual is a citizen of South Korea.

On the same day, the South Korean local news agency Yonhap News Agency reported that authorities confirmed based on ‘photo data’, along with the name, nationality, and age from the ID card, that the arrested individual is the same person as the CEO of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon. The assistant to the former CEO, Han Mo, was also reportedly arrested with him in Podgorica.

However, the National Police Agency of South Korea stated that it is still waiting for ‘fingerprint information’ from Montenegrin authorities to fully verify whether the arrested individuals are indeed Kwon and Mo. South Korean prosecutors previously revoked Kwon’s passports in October 2022.

As Adžić recounted, the person suspected to be the former ‘King of Cryptocurrency’ was arrested at Podgorica airport with forged documents, and authorities are awaiting official confirmation of identity.

Since December 2022, South Korean prosecutors have claimed that Kwon has been hiding in Serbia, where there is no extradition agreement with South Korea. On September 26, 2022, an Interpol Red Notice was issued for Kwon due to his alleged role in the collapse of $40 billion worth of cryptocurrencies Luna Classic (LUNC) and TerraUSD (USTC) in May 2022. He is also wanted by regulatory bodies in South Korea, Singapore, and the USA.

Montenegro reportedly has no extradition agreement with Singapore or South Korea. However, it has an old extradition agreement with the USA and has complied with requests for the extradition of American citizens in the past. The country is also communicating with Interpol regarding extradition matters.

Kwon has spent considerable time in the USA in the past, but it is unclear whether he is a US citizen or a permanent resident. It is also unclear whether he has committed crimes against US citizens for potential extradition proceedings.

The SEC charged Kwon on February 16, 2023, with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities. As of March, the US Department of Justice is also investigating Kwon’s role in the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. However, no criminal charges have been filed against Kwon on US territory.