It’s understood that Terraform Labs’ controversial founder and CEO Do Kwon is presently situated within the Southeast European nation of Serbia after leaving Singapore in September.
In response to a Dec. 11 report from Chosun Media, South Korean authorities adopted a tip-off regarding Do Kwon’s whereabouts suggesting he’s now in Serbia and has been in a position to verify it.
“Not too long ago, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was discovered to be true,” an official advised the outlet.
The report additionally states that South Korea’s Ministry of Finance “is within the technique of requesting cooperation from the Serbian authorities” as a part of the investigation.
South Korean authorities have been on the hunt for Do Kwon since Terra’s collapse, however evidently have not had a lot luck pinpointing his location.
The 31-year-old was understood to have moved to Singapore in direction of the top of April simply earlier than the Terra ecosystem’s shock collapse.
On Sept. 14, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Workplace’s Monetary and Securities Felony Unit issued an arrest warrant towards Kwon for violating South Korean capital markets legal guidelines.
Close to that point, authorities in Singapore confirmed that Kwon was not within the nation, and was understood to have flown to Dubai in transit to a brand new unknown vacation spot.
Shortly after on Sept. 26, Interpol additionally reportedly issued a “Pink Discover” towards Kwon. As of at this time, nonetheless, Do Kwon’s itemizing nonetheless does not seem to have been added to Interpol’s Pink Discover database on the web site.
In October, South Korea’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs issued an order for Kwon to give up his passport on Oct. 6. The Ministry added that failure to conform would consequence within the cancellation of his passport altogether.
Later that month, prosecutors in South Korea confirmed studies that Do Kwon had flown to Dubai for a doable stopover earlier than heading to a different vacation spot — which because it seems, is perhaps Serbia.
If Do Kwon seems to be in Serbia, it stays to be seen what, if any, authorized strings could be pulled from South Korea to attempt to extradite the Terraform Labs founder.
Whereas South Korea has entered right into a bilateral extradition treaty with 31 international locations, Serbia is just not. Nevertheless, South Korea has additionally entered into a wider multilateral extradition treaty with the Council of Europe to which Serbia is a signatory.
Associated: Terra co-founder Do Kwon faces $57-million lawsuit in Singapore
Kwon has maintained that he’s not “on the run” and that he’s “making zero effort to cover,” and has continued to be lively on social media over the previous couple of months.
The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in Might was partly triggered by the depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD Traditional, USTC (previously UST), which in flip introduced down its sister asset Luna Traditional, LUNC (previously LUNA) practically 100%.
Cointelegraph reached out to representatives for Terraform Labs for remark however didn’t obtain a right away response.