Do Kwon’s lawyers don’t expect a US extradition by March

Former Terraform CEO Do Kwon’s extradition battle continues.

In a letter to Judge Jed Rakoff, Kwon’s US attorneys warned that the co-founder of Terraform Labs may not be present for the start of the March 25 trial in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Kwon and his former company.

The letter, penned by lawyers at Kaplan Hecker & Fink, said that Kwon’s extradition process was “meant to be resolved by this point.”

Both South Korea and the United States have requested to extradite the former executive. According to a declaration from Kwon’s lawyer in Montenegro, the co-founder wants to be extradited to South Korea since it’s his home country. 

The extradition, his US lawyers said, is taking “longer than expected because of unanticipated mistakes by the High Court tasked with deciding Mr. Kwon’s case.”

Read more: Do Kwon wins on second try to appeal extradition 

A declaration from Kwon’s lawyer, Goran Rodić, in Montenegro accompanied the letter filed by the law firm on Monday. He said that the High Court in Montenegro ruled that Kwon should be extradited to the US because it believed that the US was the first to make the extradition request. A fact, he added, that is inaccurate. 

The Wall Street Journal reported in February that the court ruled in favor of extraditing Kwon to the US.

“The Minister of Justice at the time the extradition requests were received in March and April 2023 publicly stated that the request from South Korea arrived first and that the most recent decision [made in February] of the High Court was erroneous,” Rodić wrote.

Kwon’s team has since appealed the extradition decision, which could further delay any progress on extradition.

The former CEO was originally set to be extradited in November of last year. The High Court first declared that the minister of justice should decide where Kwon goes, though the decision was later vacated.

Don’t miss the next big story – join our free daily newsletter.