On June 2, a Montenegrin court dismissed the appeals process by prosecutors and granted bail to Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs. The State Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal against the earlier bail agreement was rejected, allowing Kwon and Terraform Labs’ chief financial officer Han Chang-Joon to be placed under house arrest in the country while awaiting further legal proceedings, as stated in an official release from the Basic Court in Podgorica.
The court reinstated the original bail terms set during the May 12 hearing. Both Kwon and Chang-Joon must individually pay 400,000 euros ($436,000) to secure their release from custody. However, they are now subjected to strict bail conditions and are confined to Chang-Joon’s legal residence in Montenegro.
Local police will closely monitor the pair to ensure compliance. If either of them violates the supervision measures or leaves the residence, the bail will be forfeited.
Do Kwon Submitting to Court Demands
Kwon and Chang-Joon provided local authorities with their personal and financial information, which included presenting evidence of a sales contract and property registration for an apartment, parking space, and basement owned by Chang-Joon.
According to reports, Kwon submitted an invoice for a vehicle and bank account statements to comply with the bail terms, which were set to discourage the defendants from attempting to flee the country.
In March 2023, authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon and Chang-Joon after they allegedly used false travel documents while attempting to leave the country. Their original passports had been confiscated in South Korea in October 2022.
The court acknowledged that verifying the authenticity of the Belgian passports and identity cards held by the pair would require more time, but emphasized that the agreed-upon bail amount “sufficiently guarantees the presence of the defendants.”
Do Kwon remains sought by multiple jurisdictions. South Korean authorities seek to extradite the co-founder of Terraform Labs for investigations into the notorious collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which caused an estimated $40 billion loss in the cryptocurrency market in June 2022.
Interpol has also issued a Red Notice for Do Kwon in connection with the charges in South Korea, while he also faces numerous fraud charges in the United States.
