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Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon’s arrest in Montenegro confirmed by Interpol

Published 24/03/2023, 08:41 pm
Updated 24/03/2023, 09:30 pm
© Reuters.  Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon’s arrest in Montenegro confirmed by Interpol

© Reuters. Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon’s arrest in Montenegro confirmed by Interpol

Crypto fugitive and Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon has been arrested in the small Balkan nation of Montenegro, Interpol has confirmed.

Interpol’s national central bureau in Seoul, South Korea, told CNN on Friday that his identity was confirmed through a fingerprint match.

Montenegro’s interior minister, Filip Adžić, tweeted late on Thursday that “Montenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs”.

Montenegro’s interior ministry said the suspect was found carrying falsified documents which attempting to board a plane to Dubai.

The suspect’s identity was not officially confirmed until this morning.

South Korean native Do Kwon has been wanted by South Korean and US authorities on charges of fraud and securities law violations relating to the US$60bn collapse of Terraform Labs-developed stablecoin TerraUSD and sister token LUNA in May 2022, which arguably kicked off the two-trillion-dollar crypto market rout last year.

South Korea asked Interpol to join the manhunt by issuing a Red Notice in September, but Kwon's whereabouts has, until recently, remained of one crypto’s biggest mysteries, with many suspecting he was holed up in Serbia.

Kwon was asked by the Coinage podcast in August 2022 if he would ever return to South Korea to face charges.

“It’s kind of hard to make that decision, because we’ve never been in touch with the investigators… They’ve never charged us with anything,” he said at the time.

While Kwon had stated that “I am not on the run or anything similar – for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide”, he continually refused to disclose his whereabouts following arrest warrants put out by South Korean police.

Like fellow disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, Kwon maintained an active online presence while prosecutors closed in around him, but his Twitter profile has not been updated since 10 December 2022.

Read more on Proactive Investors AU

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