Montenegro Court Invalidates Kwon Do-hyung's US Extradition... Steps Toward Retrial

"Centrifugal Force, Serious Violation of Criminal Procedure Act Provisions"

The extradition procedure of Kwon Do-hyung, CEO of Terraform Labs, who caused significant damage to the cryptocurrency market due to the Terra·Luna crash, has been suspended.

The Montenegro Court of Appeal announced on the 5th (local time) that it accepted Kwon's appeal, nullified the Podgorica High Court's decision on extradition to the United States, and sent the case back to the original court.

The Court of Appeal explained the reason for its ruling, stating that the High Court "committed a serious violation of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act."

Earlier, the Podgorica High Court decided last month to extradite Kwon to the United States. At that time, the court explained, "Kwon Do-hyung will be extradited to the United States, where he is charged with crimes committed in the field of financial operations." Kwon subsequently filed an appeal.

As the Court of Appeal accepted Kwon's claim and sent the case back to the original court, the High Court must re-examine Kwon's extradition country from the beginning. Depending on the outcome of the retrial, there is also a possibility that Kwon could be extradited to Korea.

Kwon is estimated to have caused more than 50 trillion won in damages to investors worldwide due to the Terra·Luna crash in 2022. He fled Korea in April 2022 and was arrested in Montenegro last March on charges of using a forged passport and is currently in custody. Both Korean and U.S. prosecutors are investigating Kwon and have requested his extradition from the Montenegro Court of Appeal, which currently holds him. If extradited to the United States, which adopts the principle of cumulative sentencing by assigning sentences for each individual crime, Kwon could face more than 100 years in prison. However, since the maximum sentence for economic crimes in Korea is about 40 years, the severity of punishment is expected to vary depending on the extradition country.