In an unprecedented series of events, the co-founder of the acclaimed Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, has been sentenced to four months in prison by a Montenegrin court. The conviction stems from an incident where Kwon attempted to travel with a forged passport. The news has sparked discussions across the crypto world and beyond, highlighting the delicate nature of international law and the often-grey areas of cryptocurrency entrepreneurship.
Terraform Lab’s chief financial officer, Han Chang-joon, was also caught in the crosshairs of this controversy, receiving an identical sentence for the same crime. Both the sentence announcement and their convictions were confirmed via an official email from the Basic Court in Podgorica. Notably, the prison terms do account for the time both convicts have already spent in detention. Kwon and Chang-joon have the right to appeal their verdicts, adding yet another layer of complexity to this international legal debacle.
In response to the court’s decision, the defense lawyer Goran Rodic stated in a telephonic interview that the defense team would be deliberating on the possibility of an appeal once they received the verdict in writing. The court, however, can take up to 30 days to formally notify the defense team as well as the prosecutor’s office. In the meantime, both parties are in a state of legal limbo, awaiting the next steps in this already convoluted case.
The roots of this scandal trace back to March when Kwon and Han were arrested while attempting to board a private jet bound for Dubai from Montenegro. This action was prompted by an international arrest warrant issued in response to the crash of two digital tokens that Kwon helped create. This crash wiped out an astonishing US$40 billion of market value, putting Kwon on the radar of prosecutors in South Korea and the US, who promptly charged him with fraud.
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Upon arrest, the authorities found both individuals in possession of multiple passports, including counterfeit Belgian and Costa Rican documents. The United States and South Korea, the two nations seeking Kwon’s extradition, are waiting for local criminal proceedings to conclude in Montenegro, after which his extradition could potentially be considered.
In May, Kwon and Han pleaded not guilty at their initial court hearing in Montenegro. Further adding intrigue to the situation, Kwon claimed last week that he procured the documents from an agency in Singapore which sells citizenships of various countries, and had been under the impression that the passports were authentic.
The charges faced by Kwon and Han are a stark reminder of the volatile world of cryptocurrencies, where fortunes can turn overnight, and the line between legal and illegal is often blurred.
The news is sourced from marketing-interactive.com.
