South Korea will seek the extradition of fugitive crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon, prosecutors told AFP Friday, after the Terraform founder was arrested in Montenegro and hit with US fraud charges.
Kwon, whose full name is Kwon Do-hyung, has been accused of fraud over his company’s dramatic collapse last year, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors’ money and shook global crypto markets.
The 31-year-old was arrested at the Podgorica airport in Montenegro on a South Korean warrant, the country’s interior ministry said Thursday.
Soon after, the United States charged him with eight counts, including securities fraud and wire fraud, which followed a lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
In South Korea, where Kwon is wanted for violations of the country’s capital markets act, authorities confirmed Friday that they would seek his extradition.
“South Korean prosecutors will take steps to repatriate Kwon Do-hyung. We are working on the process,” Kim Hee-kyung, a spokeswoman for the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office, told AFP.
Kwon reportedly flew from South Korea to Singapore ahead of the company’s crash in May last year.
In September, South Korean prosecutors requested that Interpol place him on the red notice list across the agency’s 195 member nations, and also revoked his passport.
( Source AFP)
