Search for Do Kwon Continues, Reportedly Hiding in Serbia
- Seoul’s Southern District Prosecutor’s office has confirmed that Do Kwon had moved to Serbia after his visit to Dubai in October.
- The Asian country’s Ministry of Finance is reportedly “in the process of requesting cooperation” from the Serbian government in its investigation into Do Kwon.
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The international search for Terraform Labs’ co-founder and CEO Do Kwon continues, with South Korean officials believing he is currently in Serbia, the Financial Times reported on 12 December.
According to the publication, Seoul’s Southern District Prosecutor’s office has confirmed that Do Kwon — who disapeared after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem earlier this year — had moved to Serbia after his visit to Dubai in October. Officials also stated that Korea’s Ministry of Finance was currently “in the process of requesting cooperation from the Serbian government” as part of its investigation into Terraform Labs’ CEO.
It is unknown what will happen with Do Kwon if he really turns up in Serbia. Although South Korea has an extradition treaty with 31 countries around the world, Serbia is not among them. The Asian country, however, has a broader extradition treaty with the Council of Europe, which Serbia joined as a member in 2003.
South Korea has been on the hunt for Do Kwon since September, when the Financial and Securities Criminal Unit of the Southern District Prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for the CEO for allegedly violating the country’s capital markets laws. The country had also requested that Interpol issue a “Red Notice” — a request to law enforcement worldwide to “locate and provisionally arrest” an individual — for Do Kwon, though the CEO is yet to be added to the Red Notice database on their website.
Do Kwon has continued to claim that he is “not on the run” and that he has made “zero effort to hide” — despite his unknown whereabouts — and continues to be active on social media. Last week he claimed on Twitter that the collapse of Terra was triggered by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his trading firm Alameda Research, who allegedly “sold 500mm UST in minutes to drains its curve pools during the MIM crisis”. The New York Times have also reported that SBF was now under investigation for market manipulation of the TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA tokens, noting that the majority of UST sell orders in May — which triggered the collapse — came from Alameda.
- One of the largest South Korean commercial banks, KEB Hana Bank, partnered with crypto custodian BitGo in order to set up a new crypto custody venture in the country.
- The new venture, which will use BitGo’s crypto security expertise and Hana’s experience in financial services and compliance, is expected to launch in the second half of 2024.
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- Terraform Labs’ founder Do Kwon and CFO Han Chang-Joon were found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison for their use of forged Costa Rican passports.
- The Basic Court in the country’s capital Podgorica clarified that the time both individuals spent under detention in the country will also be taken into account.
- A district court in South Korea ruled that the token was not a security, noting that it was “difficult to see LUNA as financial investment product regulated by the Capital Markets Act”.
- Using this decision, the court dismissed the prosecution’s request to confiscate properties owned by Terraform Labs’ co-founder Hyun-seung Shin.