Terraform Labs co-founder and CEO Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro.

• Montenegro’s Interior Minister, Filip Adzic, declared the arrest of a suspect believed to be Terra Luna co-founder Do Kwon within the country’s borders. 
• Interpol has issued a warrant for the arrest of a former blockchain executive in connection with the May 2022 collapse of Terra Luna, an ecosystem valued at $40 billion. 

On March 23, Montenegro’s Interior Minister, Filip Adzic, announced the arrest within the country’s borders of a suspect believed to be Terra Luna co-founder Do Kwon. the arrestee was a South Korean national, according to local news outlet Vijesti, and the Twitter account that made the announcement belonged to the Ministry of the Interior. 

The South Korean National Police Agency confirmed that the arrested individual in Podgorica, Montenegro, is none other than Terraform Labs’ CEO Do Kwon based on photo data, name, nationality, and age of an identification card.  Han Mo, his aide, was reportedly detained alongside him.

However, in order to confirm the identities of the individuals, the Agency is still awaiting fingerprint information from Montenegrin authorities. In October 2022, South Korean prosecutors revoked Kwon’s passport. According to Yonhap News Agency, Montenegrin police detained a person suspected of being Do Kwon, the wanted fugitive and co-founder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs. 

Do Kwon, the suspected former “cryptocurrency king,” was issued an Interpol red notice on September 26, 2022, to be arrested on charges related to his alleged involvement in the $40 billion Terra Luna (LUNC) and Terra USD (USTC) ecosystem collapse in May 2022. For his role in the events, he is also wanted by South Korea, Singapore, and the United States. South Korean prosecutors claimed in December 2022 that Kwon was hiding in Serbia, a country with which South Korea has no extradition treaty.

This week, Montenegrin authorities detained a man suspected of being Kwon Oh-soo with falsified documents at the Podgorica airport, and they are now awaiting confirmation of his identity. Montenegro shares borders with Serbia and is located to the south of it. 

Montenegro reportedly lacks extradition treaties with Singapore and South Korea, but it does have one with the United States and has previously complied with requests for the extradition of US citizens. Although Do Kwon has spent significant time in the United States, it is unclear whether he has citizenship or permanent resident status there, or whether he has committed any crimes against US citizens that would qualify him for extradition proceedings. 

The SEC charged Kwon with “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities” on February 16, 2023. In response, the US Department of Justice has been investigating Kwon’s role in the Terra Luna ecosystem’s demise since March. On US soil, no criminal charges have been filed against Kwon to date. 

Buy and sell crypto in minutes with 0.20% trading fees at Bitdenex Exchange.