Han Chang-joon, former CFO (chief financial officer) of cryptocurrency company Terraform Labs, behind the failed Terra (LUNA) project, was extradited from Montenegro to South Korea. The extradition followed a decision by the Ministry of Justice of the Balkan country.
“The state of Montenegro acted today at the request of South Korea. And, by decision of the Ministry of Justice, it handed over Han Chang-joon to the competent authorities of his country of origin”, published the country's Ministry of Justice on its official website this Monday (05).
Montenegrin police said they handed Han over to South Korean authorities so they can initiate “criminal proceedings for various crimes related to fraud in financial investment services, investments and capital markets, which is punishable by life imprisonment in South Korea.”
Chang-joon worked alongside company co-founder Do Kwon. Both were arrested in March last year at that country's airport for trying to travel with false documents.
After his arrest, the former chief financial officer of Terraform Labs served a four-month prison sentence. Meanwhile, Do Kwon remains in custody in Montenegro. He is awaiting the Ministry of Montenegro to decide whether he will be extradited to South Korea, his home country, or to the United States.
Both countries demanded Kwon's extradition on several charges related to the Terra project, which collapsed in May 2022. Both the project's algorithmic stablecoin, UST, and the platform's native cryptocurrency, LUNA, lost practically all of their value.
This collapse of the project wiped US$40 billion from the cryptocurrency market, impacting other projects and several companies exposed to the digital assets in question. There was a domino effect of crypto industry implosions that brought down crypto fund Three Arrows Capital and crypto exchange FTX.
Earlier this month, as CriptoFácil reported, Do Kwon's defense asked a US court to postpone the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) judgment against him. This was because Kwon wanted to appear in court in person. The SEC accepted the defense's request and agreed to postpone the trial start date until March 18th.
