Kwon Do-hyung, the main culprit of last year’s crash of Terra and Luna, a cryptocurrency, will be delivered to the United States, not Korea.
Citing an internal source, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 7th that “Montenegro Justice Minister Andrej Milovic unofficially announced that he would send Kwon to the United States, not Korea.”
The WSJ explained that Secretary Milovich will not announce the decision to extradite Kwon until his final ruling, but he has already revealed Kwon’s extradition policy during closed-door discussions and talks with the U.S. ambassador last month.
Kwon fled the country just before the virtual currency Terra and Luna in April last year, and after being arrested in March for trying to use a fake passport in Montenegro, both the U.S. and Korea have been in a tug-of-war asking for Kwon’s extradition.
Currently, Korean prosecutors are charging Kwon with five charges, including securities fraud and breach of trust, but the U.S. has eight more, including financial fraud and market manipulation, and if convicted, it can be sentenced for up to 100 years.
If the trip to the U.S. is confirmed as it is, Kwon is expected to go to the U.S. court around March next year when his sentence and detention order are completed.
Kwon is known to want to go to Korea, and among the victims of the Terra and Luna crash, there are mixed claims that Kwon should be tried in Korea and sent to the U.S., where his sentence is high.
Meanwhile, the damage to investors around the world from the Terra and Luna crash last year was estimated to be more than 50 trillion won, with more than 200,000 victims occurring in Korea alone.
EJ SONG
US ASIA JOURNAL
