Do Kwon Suggests Authorities Lying About Passport Forgery, To Appeal 30-Day Extended Detention

Terraform Labs (TFL) co-founder Do Kwon, following his arrest in Montenegro last week, seemingly suggested that authorities, particularly Interpol, were lying when they alleged that the crypto fugitive attempted to leave the Southeastern European country using a fake passport.

Kwon's lawyer also confirmed that they are appealing the 30-day extended detention of the TFL CEO in Montenegro.

After months of manhunt, Kwon was finally arrested last week. Montenegrin's authorities detained him along with Terraform Labs' chief financial officer Han Chang-joon after they attempted to leave Podgorica airport, allegedly using forged passports.

Following their arrest, Montenegrin authorities, which typically follow the standard of up to 72 hours of detention, asked the court for a 30-day extension of the captives' custody because of their tendency to escape.

The court approved the request and noted that Kwon is a foreign national whose identity was not clearly identified.

Kwon and Chang-joon denied allegations that they attempted to leave Montenegro using fake passports, Bloomberg reported over the weekend, citing the crypto executive's lawyer Branko Andjelic.

Kwon's legal representative also confirmed that they will appeal against the Montenegrin court's decision on the extended remand or detaining Kwon for longer than usual, as reported by the local Montenegro paper Vijesti.

Before his arrest, the TFL CEO was last seen in Serbia, but he does not have a travel record of crossing Serbia's border, Montenegrin authorities claimed, suggesting that his entry into the country could be illegal.

Kwon's arrest happened just over a month after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the 31-year-old Stanford graduate and his business Terraform Labs with fraud.

It is not yet clear if Kwon's arrest was due to the request by the U.S. authorities, but at the time of his capture in Montenegro, prosecutors in New York charged Kwon with fraud in connection to the $40 billion Terra crash in May 2022.

The court filing signed by United States Attorney Damian Williams revealed that the crypto mogul was charged with eight separate charges, which include securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation.

U.S. prosecutors noted in the 12-page indictment that Kwon defrauded customers by "deceiving those individuals about aspects of the Terra blockchain, including its technology and the extent to which it had been adopted by users."

Aside from that, the Basic State Prosecution Office of Montenegro will also press criminal charges against Kwon for his forged travel documents from Costa Rica, believed to be the place where the Interpol first discovered his whereabouts, a local news outlet reported.