(Dec 28): Terraform Labs Pte Ltd co-founder Do Kwon will be handed over to the US for prosecution, the government of Montenegro said, potentially ending a standoff over competing extradition demands by the US and Kwon’s native South Korea.

“Most criteria envisaged by the law are in favour of the extradition demands from the institutions of the United States of America,” the Montenegro’s Justice Ministry said in statement posted on its website. It said Minister Bojan Bozovic made the decision on Friday, without specifying when the handover may take place.

Kwon, who faces prosecutions in both New York and Seoul over the US$40 billion (RM178.96 billion) collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin in 2022, was arrested in Montenegro last year for travelling on a foreign passport. It’s unclear if Friday’s decision is the final one, as Montenegrin courts have also previously ruled that he should be sent to South Korea instead of the US.

The Manhattan US attorney’s office, which brought fraud charges against Kwon last year, declined to comment Friday. Kwon’s lawyer, Goran Rodic, who sought to fulfil his client’s preference for extradition to Korea, declined immediate comment when reached by phone.

Terraform and Kwon personally were found liable for fraud following a civil trial on Securities and Exchange Commission allegations in April. Terraform has agreed to pay US$4.5 billion to settle the case with the SEC.

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