Do Kwon released from Montenegro prison, Terra Luna surges

Do Kwon, the South Korean crypto fugitive, was reportedly set free from prison in Montenegro over the weekend amid ongoing deliberations by the Supreme Court regarding extradition requests from both the U.S. and South Korea.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Darko Vukcevic, the prison director, communicated the news via phone, stating, “We released Do Kwon from prison as his regular prison term for traveling with fake papers ended.” Kwon’s status as a foreign citizen and the confiscation of his documents prompted authorities to transfer him for further processing to the police directorate for foreigners.

Bloomberg, quoting Montenegrin state TV, indicates that Goran Rodic, Kwon’s lawyer, corroborated the release, revealing that Kwon’s passport had been confiscated to prevent him from leaving the country.

Subsequently, Kwon was relocated to a shelter for foreigners. Rodic indicated plans to appeal to the court, arguing for Kwon’s ability to remain at large until a decision on extradition is reached.

Montenegro’s Supreme Court had intervened in Kwon’s case by suspending earlier extradition decisions made by lower-level judges, effectively halting efforts to extradite the co-founder of the defunct Terraform Labs to South Korea. Kwon faces allegations related to the $40 billion collapse of the TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic stablecoin in 2022.

Following the news, the price of Terra (LUNA) has jumped 20% and is currently trading at about $1.10 per data from the crypto price tracking website CoinGecko. It also signifies a 20% hike in the last week and a 65% improvement over 30 days. 

The price rise was accompanied by a 24-hour trading volume of more than $407 million, which is 283% better than the previous day’s estimates. 

This development unfolded following a challenge by the top prosecutor in Montenegro, who cited procedural errors in the rulings favoring South Korea’s extradition request.

Consequently, extradition to either country awaits further deliberation by the Supreme Court, which has not provided a timeline for its final decision since announcing its intervention.

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