Kwon Do-hyung, CEO of Terraform Labs who caused the 'Terra·Luna' incident, was arrested in Montenegro, Eastern Europe, after nearly a year of fleeing abroad.
According to major foreign media including AFP on the 23rd (local time), Philip Adzic, Montenegro's Minister of the Interior, tweeted, "A person suspected to be Kwon Do-hyung, a globally wanted South Korean, was arrested in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro," adding, "Identity verification procedures are currently underway."
The Montenegro Ministry of the Interior later issued a statement saying that CEO Kwon and another individual were found carrying forged Costa Rican and Belgian passports at Podgorica International Airport and were arrested while attempting to board a flight to Dubai.
Belgian and South Korean travel documents were found in their luggage, and after authorities checked border inspection records, it was confirmed that the two had no record of entering Montenegro.
According to the Montenegro daily newspaper 'Pobjeda,' CEO Kwon was taken to the Podgorica District Prosecutor's Office on charges of document forgery.
The Korean National Police Agency also announced on the same day that individuals believed to be CEO Kwon and an associate named Han were arrested by authorities in Montenegro, and they have requested ten-fingerprint data from Montenegro for final identity verification and are awaiting a response. The police expect the identities to be officially confirmed as early as the morning of the 24th.
CEO Kwon is the founder of Terraform Labs along with former Chai Corporation CEO Shin Hyun-sung. Despite knowing the risk that Terra and Luna prices could simultaneously collapse, he promoted Terra as a profitable coin, causing investors losses exceeding 50 trillion won.
It is known that CEO Kwon left the country at the end of April last year, just before the Terra·Luna incident, stayed in Singapore where the headquarters is located, then fled to Serbia recently via Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in September last year.
Accordingly, the Financial Crime Joint Investigation Team of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office has been tracking CEO Kwon since September last year after obtaining an arrest warrant on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act. The prosecution froze virtual assets worth 95 billion won belonging to CEO Kwon and requested a red notice from Interpol.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also indicted him last month on fraud charges, alleging that CEO Kwon embezzled Bitcoin worth 312 billion won and deposited it in a Swiss bank.
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