Crypto’s most wanted fugitive has been arrested

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Do Kwon, the world’s most wanted fugitive, has been arrested by the police. The South Korean developer’s run ended in Montenegro. The US and South Korean authorities quickly stepped forward…



Do Kwon, the creator of the UST and the Luna cryptocurrency, was arrested by police in Montenegro on Thursday, March 23, 2023. The South Korean developer, on the run since last summer, was arrested at the airport of Podgorica, the capital of the Balkan country, during a routine check. It was Filip Adzic, the interior minister of Montenegro, who announced the news on Twitter:

“Montenegrin police have arrested a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives in the world, South Korean Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs”.
He wanted to travel to Dubai with Hon Chang Joon, the CFO of Terra Labs, the company that launched the UST stablecoin. Before failing in Montenegro, the duo fled to Serbia, a neighboring country. The fugitives were in possession fake IDsnamely a forged Belgian passport and a Costa Rican passport.

U PODGORICI UHAPŠEN JEDAN OD NAJTRAŽENIJIH SVJETSKIH BJEGUNACA

Dealing with the police can ensure you have your hands full with your own investigation, but you may wonder if Do Kwon doesn’t work and is director of Terraform Labs of Singapuru.
1/2

—Filip Adzic (@filip_adzic) March 23, 2023
Interpol quickly confirmed the identity of the arrested person through his fingerprints. As a reminder, the 30-year-old is believed to be responsible for the crash of May 2022. At the time, the algorithmic stablecoin UST suddenly collapsed. The token lost its parity with the US dollar. In a matter of days, $40 billion went up in smoke, causing lasting damage to the entire ecosystem. Before the fall, the UST was the fourth largest stablecoin in the industry. It was also the tenth most valuable cryptocurrency on the market.

Read also: after Kraken, cryptocurrency giant Coinbase is threatened by US regulators
US indictment and extradition to South Korea


A few hours after his arrest Do Kwon has been sued by the United States. According to AFP, eight charges have been filed against the developer. He is mainly accused of online fraud and organized gang fraud. According to a federal jury in New York, the founder of Terra “Investors deliberately misled about many aspects of the Terra Blockchain, including the technology used and the level of user adoption.” The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the United States’ financial police officer, agrees and accuses Do Kwon of “orchestrated a multi-billion dollar crypto asset fraud”.

The South Korean authorities also reported after the arrest. South Korea has announced its intention demand the extradition of Do Kwon to his native country. Note that Montenegro is part of the European Convention on Extradition, a multilateral agreement that allows extradition between signatory countries. Barring surprise, the request will be approved by the Montenegrin authorities “in accordance with international laws and agreements”says the country’s Ministry of Justice.

South Korea accuses Terra Labs founder of violating laws governing financial markets. That is why the South Korean police issued a warrant for his arrest last summer, shortly after the UST crash. To escape justice, you must first do Kwon refugee in Singapore before going to Europe. Interpol then took over the matter by issuing red notices in 195 countries. During his flight, the fugitive has always maintained that he was not running from justice and that he was cooperating with governments in his search.

Source :

Cointelegraph
 
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