BELGRADE: Montenegro will extradite to the United States South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon, who is also wanted by Seoul for the multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy of his company, Terraform Labs, the Montenegrin Justice Ministry announced on Friday.

For months, Seoul and Washington have been seeking the South Korean’s extradition for his suspected role in a fraud linked to his company’s failure, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors’ money and shook global crypto markets.

“The Minister of Justice, Bojan Bozovic, issued a decision approving the extradition of the accused, Kwon Do Hyung, to the United States of America,” the Ministry of Justice announced, following a year and a half of dizzying court rulings and subsequent reversals regarding his extradition.

“It was concluded that the majority of the criteria prescribed by law favour the extradition request from the competent authorities of the United States of America,” the Ministry added in a statement.

The crypto tycoon was arrested in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai, in possession of a fake Costa Rican passport.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2024