Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon reportedly was arrested on Thursday after evading law enforcement following his company’s sudden collapse roughly 10 months ago.
Kwon was arrested in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, according to a tweet by the country’s minister of interior.
U PODGORICI UHAPŠEN JEDAN OD NAJTRAŽENIJIH SVJETSKIH BJEGUNACA
— Filip Adzic (@filip_adzic) March 23, 2023
Crnogrska policija lišila je slobode lice za koje se sumnja da je jedan od najtraženijih bjegunaca, južnokorejski državljanin Do Kwon, suosnivač i izvršni direktor Terraform Labs sa sjedištem u Singapuru.
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In Bosnian, the minister, Filip Adzic, wrote that the disgraced crypto founder was detained at the airport in possession of “falsified documents,” adding that the authorities were waiting for official confirmation of Kwon’s identity. South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that police confirmed the suspect’s passport name, age, and birth country match those of Kwon.
The failure of Terraform Labs’ algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and sister cryptocurrency Luna destroyed tens of billions of dollars in value.
In September, prosecutors in Kwon’s native South Korea issued an arrest warrant alleging that he violated the nation’s financial laws. Interpol also issued a “red notice” at that time, putting international law enforcement on alert to arrest Kwon. South Korea also threatened to void his passport.
After the warrant and notice were issued in September, Kwon disappeared. The crypto founder said on Twitter at the time that he was “not on the run” or anything similar, adding that “we don’t have anything to hide.”
Later reports placed Kwon in Serbia, and South Korean prosecutors did not deny the speculation. Serbia borders Montenegro to the northeast.
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Do Kwon and Terraform Labs with defrauding investors, claiming he helped orchestrate “a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities.”
On Thursday, U.S. prosecutors in New York charged Kwon with eight counts that included securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud, according to Bloomberg. It is unclear whether Kwon’s Thursday arrest was requested by U.S. authorities.