Do Kwon's lawyers want to block extradition to the U.S.
The United States and South Korea want Terra founder Do Kwon convicted.
The United States and South Korea want Terra founder Do Kwon convicted. His lawyers want to prevent his extradition to the U.S.
It's barely two weeks since Do Kwon was arrested. At the end of March authorities arrested the Terra founder in Montenegro. Since then, the 32-year-old has been held in pretrial detention there. In addition to his home country of South Korea, the U.S. also wants him extradited. The basis for that is a complaint from the U.S. regulator the SEC. In it, Do Kwon is accused of billions in securities fraud.
His lawyers are objecting to that now. The SEC is overstepping its authority. The defense lawyers argued to Yonhap News Agency that Terraform Labs operated globally. American investors would make up only a small portion.
Still, that's enough for the SEC to file a complaint. Because U.S. securities laws apply to companies that market their services to American customers from abroad. The SEC has published several guidelines on this in the past.
Crypto token LUNA: a security or not?
Where Do Kwon will be convicted depends on which country Montenegro extradites the 32-year-old to. The U.S. expects him to be extradited to that country. There has been an extradition treaty in place since 2019. There isn't a comparable treaty with South Korea. Still, Interpol's involvement could help reach a compromise.
Moreover, the Terra case in South Korea is already moving full steam ahead. Co-founder Daniel Shin recently had to testify in court.
Regardless of extradition, one question will determine Do Kwon's fate: Is the LUNA token a security or not?
A classification as a security would make further procedures much easier, says lawyer Koo Tae-on to Forkast. Allegedly, law enforcement in Seoul are already grappling with the issue. In the U.S., the SEC's answer should be straightforward. For SEC chief Gary Gensler, "all tokens except Bitcoin" are securities anyway.
