Terra co-founder Do Kwon hiding out in Serbia, says authorities

by Jeremy

It’s understood that Terraform Labs’ controversial founder and CEO Do Kwon is presently situated within the Southeast European nation of Serbia after leaving Singapore in September. 

Based on a Dec. 11 report from Chosun Media, South Korean authorities adopted a tip-off regarding Do Kwon’s whereabouts suggesting he’s now in Serbia and has been capable of verify it. 

“Not too long ago, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was discovered to be true,” an official informed the outlet. 

The report additionally states that South Korea’s Ministry of Finance “is within the means of requesting cooperation from the Serbian authorities” as a part of the investigation.

South Korean authorities have been on the hunt for Do Kwon since Terra’s collapse, however evidently have not had a lot luck pinpointing his location.

The 31-year-old was understood to have moved to Singapore in the direction of the tip of April simply earlier than the Terra ecosystem’s shock collapse.

On Sept. 14, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Workplace’s Monetary and Securities Legal Unit issued an arrest warrant in opposition to Kwon for violating South Korean capital markets legal guidelines.

Close to that point, authorities in Singapore confirmed that Kwon was now not within the nation, and was understood to have flown to Dubai in transit to a brand new unknown vacation spot. 

Shortly after on Sept. 26, Interpol additionally reportedly issued a “Purple Discover” in opposition to Kwon. As of at the moment, nonetheless, Do Kwon’s itemizing nonetheless would not seem to have been added to Interpol’s Purple Discover database on the web site. 

In October, South Korea’s Ministry of International Affairs issued an order for Kwon to give up his passport on Oct. 6. The Ministry added that failure to conform would consequence within the cancellation of his passport altogether.

Later that month, prosecutors in South Korea confirmed experiences that Do Kwon had flown to Dubai for a attainable stopover earlier than heading to a different vacation spot — which because it seems, could be Serbia. 

If Do Kwon seems to be in Serbia, it stays to be seen what, if any, authorized strings will be pulled from South Korea to attempt to extradite the Terraform Labs founder.

Whereas South Korea has entered right into a bilateral extradition treaty with 31 international locations, Serbia shouldn’t be. Nonetheless, South Korea has additionally entered into a wider multilateral extradition treaty with the Council of Europe to which Serbia is a signatory.

Associated: Terra co-founder Do Kwon faces $57-million lawsuit in Singapore

Kwon has maintained that he’s not “on the run” and that he’s “making zero effort to cover,” and has continued to be energetic on social media over the previous few months.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in Could was partly triggered by the depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD Traditional, USTC (previously UST), which in flip introduced down its sister asset Luna Traditional, LUNC (previously LUNA) almost 100%.

Cointelegraph reached out to representatives for Terraform Labs for remark however didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.