Do Kwon released on bail as prosecution appeal is dismissed.
Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, has been granted bail in Montenegro following the dismissal of an appeal by prosecutors on June 2nd. According to an official announcement from the Basic Court in Podgorica, the State Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal against an earlier bail agreement was rejected, allowing Kwon and Terraform Labs’ chief financial officer Han Chang-Joon to remain under house arrest in the country until further legal proceedings. The court has reinstated the bail terms set out in a previous hearing on May 12th, requiring the pair to pay 400,000 euros ($436,000) each to be released from custody. Kwon and Chang-Joon are now under strict bail conditions and are prohibited from leaving Chang-Joon’s legal residence in Montenegro. Local police will closely monitor the pair, and if they leave the residence or break any supervision measures, they will forfeit their bail. Kwon and Chang-Joon provided personal and financial information to local authorities, including evidence of a sales contract and property registration for an apartment, parking space, and basement owned by Chang-Joon. Kwon reportedly submitted an invoice for a vehicle and bank account statements, with the bail terms set to discourage the defendants from attempting to flee the country. Kwon and Chang-Joon were arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for allegedly using false travel documents when attempting to leave the country. Their original passports were confiscated in South Korea in October 2022.
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The court noted that verifying the authenticity of Belgian passports and identity cards held by the pair would require more time and highlighted that the agreed-upon bail amount “is a sufficient guarantee of securing the presence of the defendants.” However, Kwon remains a wanted individual in several jurisdictions. South Korean authorities are seeking to extradite the Terraform Labs co-founder over investigations into the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which wiped out an estimated $40 billion from the cryptocurrency market in June 2022. In relation to the charges in South Korea, Interpol has also issued a Red Notice for Kwon, who also faces a range of fraud charges in the United States.
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