Do Kwon seeks SEC trial delay while awaiting extradition from Montenegro Do Kwon seeks SEC trial delay while awaiting extradition from Montenegro
Kwon wants to physically attend and testify in the case, court filing suggested.
2 min read
Updated: Jan. 12, 2024 at 10:22 am UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
According to a court filing, embattled Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon wants to delay his Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) trial to mid-March, pending his extradition to the country from Montenegro.
In a Jan. 11 letter to Judge Rakoff, as shared by Inner City Press, Kwon’s legal team revealed that their client wants to appear at the court. Still, his delayed extradition from Montenegro is impeding this availability.
So, he is requesting a “short adjournment of the trial date [until mid-March] to allow for his attendance.”
“We understand the Court cannot put the trial on hold indefinitely, but an adjournment until mid-March would provide a realistic possibility for Mr. Kwon to attend,” the letter added.
However, if his request is denied, Kwon wants the court to instruct the jury that his absence and unavailability to testify should not be “unduly prejudicial to him.”
Kwon has been held up in Montenegro since last March after he was arrested for trying to travel with forged documents. He served a four-month prison sentence in the European country, but his stay was extended by two months due to the legal issues surrounding his possible extradition to the U.S. or South Korea.
Last December, the Montenegro Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s approval of his extradition because the order breached specific legal provisions.
So, uncertainty looms over where Kwon would be sent. The disgraced crypto tycoon previously expressed preference to be extradited to South Korea. However, Montenegro’s Minister of Justice reportedly leans towards extraditing him to the U.S.
The SEC charged Kwon with eight criminal charges, including securities law violation, wire fraud, and allegations of defrauding the customers of his failed Terra algorithmic TerraUSD (USTC, previously UST) stablecoin. He faces similar charges in South Korea, where his former partner, Daniel Shin, is currently on trial.
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Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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Terra is a blockchain protocol that uses fiat-pegged stablecoins to power price-stable global payments systems.
Terraform Labs
Terraform Labs is a startup that created Terra, a blockchain protocol and payment platform used for algorithmic stablecoins.
Do Kwon began his professional journey as an engineer, contributing to tech giants Apple and Microsoft.