Former CEO and Founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon was allegedly arrested at the airport in Podgorica, Montenegro by local authorities. This was conveyed by Filip Adfzic, Minister of Internal Affairs of Montenegro via Twitter, Thursday (23/3/2023) evening.
“Montenegro police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean national Do Kwon, founder and executive director of Singapore-based Terraform Labs,” the minister said.
“He (Do Kwon-Red) was detained at Podgoria airport with fake documents. We will wait for the official confirmation,” wrote Adfzic in a different upload.
Reporting from local South Korean media, Yonhap, the Ginseng State police said, a person suspected of being Do Kwon and an aide named Han Chang-joon were arrested by Montenegrin authorities and are being identified.
Police are awaiting a reply after requesting fingerprint information from Montenegro to confirm whether this person is really Kwon.
“We checked the person’s age, nationality and name against the identity card, and confirmed that he is the same person as CEO Kwon through photo data,” the South Korean police said, reported by Yonhap. A Montenegrin policeman who did not wish to be named told Reuters the identification process was ongoing.
“If the identity of the person is confirmed, he will be placed in extradition custody,” he said.
Reporting from Reuters in initial news, South Korean Police said a suspect suspected of being Do Kwon and another person suspected of being someone named Han Chang-joon (CEO Chai Corporation-Ed) had been arrested in Montenegro.
“We have not received their fingerprint data from Montenegro, but we plan to carry out final identity verification tomorrow morning,” an official at the Korean National Police Agency told Reuters. In February 2023, the US SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Kwon and Terraform Labs in Manhattan federal court, accusing them of defrauding investors in what regulators deemed a multibillion-dollar scheme.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the US Department of Justice was investigating the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin in 2022 and had investigated the former Terraform Labs team member, who was behind the stablecoin.
Since December 2022, South Korean prosecutors have claimed that Kwon is hiding in Serbia. The South Koreans faced difficulties in arresting him, because there was indeed no extradition treaty between Serbia and South Korea.
On September 26, 2022, Interpol issued a red notice against Do Kwon ordering the South Korean man’s arrest for his alleged role in the US$40 billion collapse of the Terra Luna (LUNC) and Terra USD (USTC) ecosystems in May 2022. He is also wanted by authorities in South Korea, Singapore and the United States.
