U.S. Will Appeal Do Kwon's Extradition to South Korea: Justice Department

The U.S. will appeal the ruling of a Montenegro Court to hand Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea, a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson told CoinDesk in an email.

Bloomberg was the first to report the news.

On Thursday, Kwon’s attorney, Goran Rodic, told CoinDesk via text that a Montenegro court had ruled to extradite him to South Korea after March 23 without indicating whether he would be appealing.

“The United States continues to seek Kwon’s extradition in accordance with relevant international and bilateral agreements and Montenegrin law,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in an email to CoinDesk on Friday. “The United States appreciates the cooperation of the Montenegrin authorities in ensuring that all individuals are subject to the rule of law.”

The U.S. and Kwon’s native South Korea have been battling it out in court, seeking his extradition.

The eyes of global authorities, including Interpol, have been on Kwon ever since Terra collapsed in mid-2022. Terra’s collapse wiped out billions of dollars of investor funds, and Kwon fled to Montenegro, where he was arrested for possession of falsified official documents. The courts in Montenegro are deciding the destination of his extradition.

Read More: South Korea’s Crypto Ecosystem Shakes Off Terra Debacle, With Gaming Dominating Web3 Activity

UPDATE: (March 11, 2024, 08:20 UTC): Add's statement from the spokesperson of the U.S. Justice Department to CoinDesk.