A Montenegrin court has sentenced Do Kwon, the co-founder of the collapsed Terra ecosystem, to four months in prison for forging personal documents. Han Chang-Joon, the chief financial officer of Terraform Labs, also received the same sentence. The pair were arrested at the Podgorica Airport in Montenegro in March while trying to fly to Dubai carrying falsified traveling documents. - At the time, the Montenegrin police said the two possessed multiple forged passports, including Belgium and Costa Rican documents.
- The verdict pointed out that time spent in detention is included in the prison terms, and the defendants or the prosecutor's office could appeal the order.
- The court has up to 30 days to officially deliver the verdict in writing to the defense and the prosecutor's office.
- Kwon and Han pleaded not guilty to forgery at their first court hearing.
- However, Kwon recently told the court that he did not know the documents he was traveling with were fake, claiming that he obtained them through an agency in Singapore selling citizenships of various countries.
- Both the U.S. and Kwon's native South Korea seek the Terra founder's extradition, though they do not have a direct extradition treaty with Montenegro.
The multibillion-dollar Terra ecosystem collapsed last year after its native token Luna's price plummeted nearly to zero in May 2022 and lost all its value against the U.S. dollar (USD), triggering a prolonged crypto winter. - The collapse caused over $60B to be wiped off the crypto market.
- The 31-year-old Kwon faces many lawsuits and investigations in several countries, including South Korea and the U.S., with allegations such as tax fraud, deceiving investors, racket collecting, and building a Ponzi scheme.
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