A South Korean man accused of being responsible for the cryptocurrency crisis that cost investors $40bn (£31.8bn) has finally been extradited to the US.
Do Kwon was the boss of Terraform, which ran two cryptocurrencies — TerraUSD and Luna — that both collapsed in 2022, triggering a broader selloff in the crypto market.
The US says he was responsible for the coins’ failure, accusing him of orchestrating a “multibillion-dollar crypto-asset securities fraud”.
Kwon fled South Korea after a warrant for his arrest was issued, eventually arriving in Montenegro, where he has now been extradited after a lengthy legal battle.
He was previously found guilty by a Montenegrin court of forging documents when he was arrested in March 2023 while trying to board a flight to Dubai.
It was unclear whether he would face criminal proceedings in the United States, however, because Montenegro does not have extradition treaties with the United States or South Korea, which is seeking his extradition.
Kwon’s eventual extradition to the United States ends more than 18 months of legal proceedings.
The Montenegrin Ministry of Justice approved the extradition in early December.
He claimed that Du Quoin had also agreed with him.
Kwon’s firm Terraform Labs became widely known in 2021, when its coins Luna and TerraUSD exploded in popularity.
Luna fans Became known as “Crazy”.with Kwon as their “king”.
But, despite huge amounts of money being pumped into the coin, on May 9, 2022, Terraform Labs crashed catastrophically, losing more than 99% of its value in 48 hours.
Investors scrambled to pull their money out of other cryptocurrencies, fearing the same thing could happen to them, leading to a significant drop in values across the sector.
It is estimated that the so-called “crypto crash” resulted in losses of $400bn (£318 bn).
Bitcoin was among the assets affected, but has since risen significantly in value. Briefly exceeded $100,000 per coin. In December
Terraform Labs finally filed for bankruptcy in the US in January 2024.