Do Kwon’s extradition to the US faced a setback after the Montenegrin Court of Appeal ruled to annul the decision of the Podgorica High Court. According to an official statement, the Supreme Court in Podgorica earlier authorized Kwon’s extradition to the US for criminal prosecution for several criminal offenses on February 20. The decision to revoke the Supreme Court’s decision was made after the Court of Appeal found that there were serious violations of criminal procedure regulations in the original decision.
This meant the Terra kingpin won another appeal, further complicating the international legal proceedings against him. Now that the case has been sent back to a lower court, the High Court in Podgorica must decide again whether to send Do Kwon to the US or South Korea, according to a statement released on March 5. The Balkan nation’s justice minister must give final approval for any extradition.
Before this, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to postpone Do Kwon’s civil trial, allowing the indicted co-founder to be extradited and attend the proceedings. The request for a delay until at least March 18, made by Kwon’s lawyer, was deemed justified by the SEC in a recent filing in a Manhattan federal court.
The regulator characterized the requested adjournment as “modest.” Importantly, there won’t be separate trials for Terraform and Kwon, as this would necessitate whistleblowers and retail investors to testify twice, an unnecessary burden.
Do Kwon: LUNA Up By 60%
As reported by TronWeekly, Kwon’s legal representation earlier assured the court that they wouldn’t seek further adjournments even if Kwon couldn’t attend on the new proposed date. In case the court rejects the plea for a further delay, Kwon’s counsel requested that the jury be informed that his absence and inability to testify should not be considered unduly prejudicial to him.
Following the news, the Terra protocol’s staking token, LUNA, is up 62% since the past week. Its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD [UST], is pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar. However, holders of both TerraUSD and Luna lost a majority of their assets after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg in the Terra debacle.