Do Kwon Remains In Detention As Montenegrin High Court Revokes Bail

Less than two weeks after being granted bail and approved to be released on house arrest, Terraform Labs (TFL) co-founder Do Kwon remains in pre-trial detention after a Montenegrin court granted the prosecutors' appeal and revoked his bail.

The high court in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, overturned the decision of a lower court Wednesday to release Kwon and Terraform Labs' former chief financial officer Han Chong-joon on $880,640 bail or approximately $430,500 each.

The lower court had also agreed earlier to have both crypto executives placed under house arrest while awaiting their trial over travel documents forgery.

"The Basic Court should now make another decision, taking into account what the High Court ruled," court spokeswoman Marija Rakovic told Bloomberg.

More than a week ago, Kwon and Chong-joon won the approval of the Basic Court to be released on bail, but the prosecution immediately appealed the ruling, which moved the case to the High Court.

It may be recalled that during the trial for the crypto executives' bail acceptance, Haris Sabotic from the prosecution raised several objections, including the lack of required conditions to monitor the activities via surveillance.

The lawyer also mentioned that if allowed to post bail, both defendants could deliberately ignore court summons, which could delay court hearings.

The Montenegrin High Court agreed with the prosecution's concern that the 800,000 euro bail is not a solid guarantee nor the duo's promise not to flee the country once they are released from pre-trial detention.

Meanwhile, the prosecution maintained that Kwon and his former colleague at TFL would have no interest in staying in the country where they await their extradition.

Both South Korea and the United States have sought the crypto fugitive's extradition.

Kwon also faces several charges in Singapore and had some of his assets frozen in his home country.

In the U.S., prosecutors filed eight separate charges against the TFL CEO, which include securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a lawsuit against Kwon before he was apprehended in Montenegro in March.

During the bail acceptance hearing earlier this month, the defendants denied allegations by Montenegrin prosecutors and revealed to the court that they have millions in assets and that their wives would post for their bail.