In the latest development of the prolonged legal battle surrounding Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, Montenegro's Supreme Court has made a decisive move by overturning prior decisions regarding his extradition.

This decision sends the case back to a lower court for further review, stirring the ongoing controversy surrounding the legal proceedings. Kwon, a central figure in the crypto world, faces allegations of fraud in both South Korea and the United States, linked to the catastrophic collapse of Terra Luna, which erased approximately $60 billion from the market in 2022.

Procedural Flaws Identified

The court's intervention was prompted by identified procedural errors in how the lower courts managed the extradition case, which has seen interests from multiple countries.

The Supreme Court criticized the lower courts for not individually assessing the legality of each extradition request, a crucial step that precedes any decision-making by the Minister of Justice on such matters. This oversight has led to the case's return to the High Court in Podgorica for a thorough re-examination.

"The Supreme Court ruled that lower courts had failed to properly assess the legality of each extradition request."

The Extradition Dilemma

The extradition proceedings have been fraught with contention and legal back-and-forth. Initially, Kwon was set to be extradited to the United States, following the government's recommendation.

However, an appeal led to the High Court, which then ordered his extradition to South Korea, citing the precedence of their request. The Supreme Court's latest ruling now places the final decision back in the hands of the Ministry of Justice, albeit after a more rigorous legal review.

Kwon's Legal Challenges Mount Kwon's legal troubles escalated when he was apprehended at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro, attempting to board a flight to Dubai with a forged Costa Rican passport.

Following a conviction for the use of falsified travel documents, Kwon was temporarily imprisoned, only to be released later, albeit restricted from leaving the country pending extradition decisions.

"In a situation where it is a matter of competing requests from two states for the extradition of the same person... the competent minister, not the court, decides on the permission and order of priority of extradition," stated Montenegro's Supreme Court.

Parallel to these events, a federal court in New York found Kwon and Terraform Labs liable on civil fraud charges, emphasizing the global reach of the legal scrutiny faced by Kwon.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also pursued Kwon, accusing him and his company of misleading investors regarding the stability of their stablecoin.