Do Kwon had scored a significant win in his fight against extradition to the United States to face fraud and money laundering charges, with an appellate court in Montenegro ruling that there were procedural issues in the U.S. Justice Department’s request.
Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs and the man behind the Luna and UST disasters, was arrested in Montenegro for using fake passports. Since then, the U.S. and South Korean governments have been fighting for his extradition.
The U.S. was allegedly in the lead in the battle for Kwon, according to reports. The U.S. ambassador had reportedly met with the justice minister and agreed that DoJ’s request would take precedence despite Kwon’s fight to be extradited to his home country of South Korea.
Kwon has now scored a major victory in his fight, with the Appellate Court in Montenegro canceling the November 17 court ruling that set the stage for his extradition.
In a statement, the top court noted that the extradition request by the U.S. was processed and approved irregularly. It cited, among the reasons, that the lower court judge had not allowed Kwon to present his defense against being claimed by the United States.
Montenegrin Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters stipulates that a presiding judge must inform a defendant of the extradition request and then afford him the opportunity to present his defense.
Further, the court annulled the lower court’s ruling, postponing the extradition until Kwon completed his four-month sentence for possessing forged identification documents.
“The decision on whether extradition will be postponed does not fall under the jurisdiction of the court, which only determines whether the legal prerequisites for extradition have been met,” according to the appellate court. This decision can only be made by the Justice Minister.
Kwon’s sentence was bound to end on December 15. However, since the extradition had yet to be sorted, South Korean and American authorities requested an extension of his term by two months to February 15, Bloomberg reported recently.
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