Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, has denied allegations of forging travel documentation and disassociated himself from any financial connections with Milojko Spajić, the leader of the Europe Now party.
In a recent hearing at the Montenegrin Basic Court, Kwon claimed that he was unaware of the alleged forgery of his passport and shifted the blame onto a Chinese-named agency.
According to a report from South Korean news outlet Segye Ilbo on June 17, Kwon stated that he had obtained his purportedly forged passports, including a Costa Rican one, through third-party “agencies.”
He explained that a Singaporean agency, recommended by a friend, facilitated his acquisition of the Costa Rican passport, while another agency was responsible for the Belgian passport.
Kwon maintained that he had been using his Costa Rican passport for a long time and had no reason to doubt its authenticity.
When pressed for details about the agency involved in obtaining the passports, Kwon claimed he could not recall the specifics but mentioned that its name was in Chinese characters.
During the court proceedings, Kwon was questioned alongside his former colleague, Han Chong-joon, who served as the Chief Financial Officer of Terraform Labs. Both individuals faced allegations of passport forgery and were also investigated for potential financial donations to Milojko Spajić. Kwon’s lawyers vehemently denied any financial connections between their client and Spajić, refuting the claims made in a letter that Kwon had supposedly sent to Montenegrin officials ahead of the country’s recent elections.
Following the hearing, Judge Ivana Becić announced that a verdict on the forgery charges would be delivered on June 19. Kwon will remain in extradition custody for a maximum of six months while the local court considers South Korea’s extradition request.
Kwon and Chong-joon were initially arrested by local authorities on March 23 after an attempt to leave Montenegro on a private flight to Dubai using falsified passports.
Although their lawyers initially secured bail approval in the amount of 400,000 euros ($436,000), this decision was later overturned on appeal.
However, on June 5, their appeal was dismissed, and bail was granted for both individuals. They are now subject to close monitoring by local police, and any violation of the approved conditions or departure from their residence could result in the forfeiture of their bail.
The collapse of Terraform Labs’ Terra ecosystem in May 2022 led to estimated losses of up to $40 billion, further adding to the controversies surrounding the company and its founder, Do Kwon.
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