Recently, the Montenegro court in-charge of Terra founder Do Kwon’s passport forgery case accepted his 400,000 euro [$428k] bail request. This came on the heels of a previous high court annulment. Ever since his arrest, both South Korea and the U.S. regulators have requested Kwon’s extradition in connection with the collapse of his multi-billion dollar crypto enterprise in May last year.
According to senior prosecutor Dan Sunghan, Kwon could spend most of his life behind bars. Initially, he’d be spending jail-time in South Korea, and then be sent to the U.S. to serve his term. The prosecutor clarified that it is possible for a person to be tried and sentenced in both jurisdictions for different charges. Notably, Dan is the Director of the Financial Crime Investigation Bureau at the Seoul Southern District Prosecution Service.
Specifically, the prosecutor said that Kwon could “be extradited to the U.S. and face trial there, and then have the sentence executed in South Korea and the U.S. after that.” In fact, he reportedly also expects Kwon to get a “record domestic sentence” for a financial fraud case. Now, that could even surpass four decades.
Ex-crypto titan Do Kwon may spend most of his life behind bars, first in South Korea then in the US, according to a scenario laid out by a lead prosecutor in Seoul https://t.co/qbPgxsTNEG pic.twitter.com/Ndd7vbcOBM
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) June 8, 2023
Also Read: How Many Years Will Sam Bankman-Fried Stay Behind Bars if Found Guilty?
Kwon’s extradition to happen anytime soon?
The collapse of Terra and UST resulted in Terraform Labs shutting shop. All the events together triggered the broader market dip, and within no time, peak winter set in. The prosecutor re-emphasized that Kwon should be extradited to his native country first, and said,
“This is the largest financial fraud or financial securities fraud case that has ever happened in South Korea.”
Kwon has denied charges in Montenegro of using forged travel documents. Even though his bail has been green-flagged, it’s still not clear if Montenegro will end up extraditing Kwon to South Korea or the U.S. The prosecutor said,
“It’s our understanding that the extradition process can take up to nine months, depending on how long the suspect has been in custody and so forth.”
Notably, the criminal penalties are fairly more in the United States when compared to South Korea. In fact, there is a huge difference between the maximum prison time. As recently reported, the penalties for different crimes in the U.S. can be added up, and the maximum sentence of Do can reach more than 100 years. However, the maximum sentence in South Korea is only about 40 years.
Also Read: Terra: Kwon Could be Sentenced 100+ Years in U.S., 40 Years in Korea