Several hours after Montenegrin Minister of the Interior, Filip Adzic, tweeted that Terraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon was arrested in the country’s capital, the police issued an official confirmation. A local outlet also reported that Kwon was arrested along with Hon Chang Joon, Terraform’s Chief Financial Officer.
Montenegrin Police Arrests Do Kwon For Trying to Cross the Border With Fake Documents
Around 2 PM, local time, the Montenegrin Minister of the Interior, FIlip Adzic, announced on Twitter the arrest of a person believed to be Terraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon. A local report from later in the afternoon revealed that the police not only confirmed the arrestee is, indeed, Do Kwon, but that they have also detained another individual identified as the company’s CFO, Hon Chang Joon.
The two were detained while attempting to get on a flight to Dubai using fake Costa Rican documents. A search also uncovered falsified Belgian papers in the two fugitives’ luggage. Additionally, the police also seized three laptops and five mobile phones from the detainees. Additionally, the report indicates the two crossed the Montenegrin border illegally as there are no records of them entering the country.
While Montenegro doesn’t have an extradition agreement with South Korea, it is a signatory of the European Convention on Extradition meaning he will likely be delivered to the RoK. In late December, it was reported that Do Kwon is hiding in Serbia, a country that shares a border with Montenegro. It is likely that Kwon was able to cross the border due to the relatively porose borders between the countries.
The Year-Long Search For Kwon Ends in Podgorica
Do Kwon is mainly sought after by the South Korean authorities due to his role in the catastrophic LUNA collapse that occurred in May 2022. The calamity wiped out an estimated $60 billion worth of investment and reportedly drove multiple people to suicide. The search for Do Kwon became international last September when Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest.
South Korean authorities again escalated the manhunt in October by revoking Kwon’s passport. In November, they also came out with the claim they have proof he manipulated the price of LUNA. Throughout the period, Terraform’s former CEO gave several interviews and repeatedly claimed he was neither on the run nor in hiding.
In early 2023, nearly a year after the crash, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed its complaint against Kwon and Terraform Labs alleging they were guilty of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency fraud. By early March, reports that the DoJ is also currently investigating the company and its CEO started emerging.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
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