 |
| Hon Chang-Joon, Do Kwon's business associate, after the hearing at the Basic Court in Podgorica, Montenegro in 2023. |
Montenegro has extradited a business partner of Hyeong Do Kwon, a well-known South Korean entrepreneur dubbed the "crypto king," who is sought in both the United States and South Korea for cryptocurrency fraud amounting to tens of billions of euros.
Kwon and his business partner, Hon Chang-Joon, were sentenced on June 19, 2023, by the Basic Court in Podgorica to four months in prison for passport forgery.
They were arrested on June 5 at Podgorica Airport, attempting to depart on a private plane bound for Dubai, using counterfeit passports.
Do Kwon's arrest drew worldwide attention as he is one of the most wanted individuals linked to suspected cryptocurrency frauds.
On February 5, police announced that Hon Chang-joon surrendered to South Korean authorities at Podgorica airport and would return to his home country based on an Interpol international arrest warrant.
Kwon remains in pre-trial detention in Montenegro until officials decide whether he will be extradited to South Korea or the United States.
Both had used Costa Rican documents, and during the searches, documents from South Korea and Belgium were also found.
Hyeong Do Kwon and Hon Chang-Joon claimed in court on November 24, 2023, that they had applied for Costa Rican passports in Singapore through an agency there and were subsequently issued them after completing the procedure.
A Montenegrin court on November 24, 2023, stated that Kwon had agreed to be extradited to South Korea, but the final decision on which country he will be extradited to lies with the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, Andrej Milovic.
Kwon is wanted by the United States, South Korea, and Singapore for what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calls the "orchestration of a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency asset-backed securities fraud."
Many investors lost their savings when Luna and Terra USD collapsed, dropping to a value near zero. The repercussions from the collapse of Terraform Labs also affected the broader cryptocurrency market.
The U.S. District Court in Manhattan issued an eight-count indictment against Kwon for securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and conspiracy.