South Korean crypto fugitive Do Kwon was released from prison in Montenegro early Saturday as the Supreme Court considers extradition requests from the United States and South Korea.
“We released Do Kwon from prison because his regular prison sentence for traveling with false documents had ended,” prison director Darko Vukcevic said by phone. “Since he is a foreign citizen and his documents were taken away, he was taken for questioning to the police department for foreigners, and he will be dealt with further there.”
Kwon’s lawyer Goran Rodic also confirmed his release. Kwon’s passport was detained to prevent him from leaving the country, state television reported.
Later on Saturday, Kwon was transferred to a shelter for foreigners, state television reported, citing Rodic, who added that he would appeal to the court, arguing that Kwon should be able to remain free until an extradition decision is made.
Montenegro’s Supreme Court on Friday suspended earlier decisions by lower-level judges to extradite a former crypto tycoon to South Korea, stalling an attempt to hand over the money to him. Terraform Labs Pte co-founder in his home country. The penalties there are less severe than in the US, where prosecutors want to try Kwon for the $40 billion collapse of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD in 2022.
The Supreme Court’s decision came a day after the Balkan country’s chief prosecutor, citing procedural errors, challenged rulings upholding South Korea’s request. Extradition to either country is now only possible after further deliberation by the court, which did not offer any time frame for a final decision when it announced its decision on Friday.