Montenegro extradited South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon to the United States on Tuesday, according to the country’s interior ministry. Kwon is also wanted in Seoul for his firm’s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy.
Montenegro’s interior ministry stated that Do Kwon was “handed over to the competent law enforcement authorities of the United States of America and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)”.
He was extradited following a decision by the Montenegrin justice ministry to face “criminal proceedings in the United States for crimes of conspiracy to commit fraud,” according to the statement.
For months, Seoul and Washington have sought the South Korean’s extradition for his alleged role in a fraud tied to his company’s bankruptcy, which wiped out over $40 billion in investor funds and jolted global crypto markets.
Last Monday, Justice Minister Bojan Bozovic approved the extradition after a year and a half of court rulings and several reversals. Kwon’s Montenegrin lawyers condemned the judgement as violating European extradition norms and said that they will file an appeal with the country’s constitutional court and the European Court of Human Rights.
The crypto tycoon was apprehended in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, Montenegro’s capital, while attempting to board an aircraft to Dubai with a forged Costa Rican passport.
Before his arrest, he had been on the run for months, escaping South Korea and then Singapore before his company declared bankruptcy in 2022. Regulators have increased their surveillance of cryptocurrency following a series of incidents in recent years, including the exchange’s high-profile collapse.
