Han Chang-joon, the former Chief Financial Officer of Terraform Labs has been extradited to South Korea by Montenegrin Police after the completion of his jail term.
A Feb 5 official release from the country’s police administration says Chang-joon has been extradited to South Korea citing a decision made by the Ministry of Justice.
Han was arrested alongside Terraform’s co-founder Do Kwon at the Podgorica airport on March 23, 2023. The arrest came after a global manhunt as Interpol issued a red notice, causing local authorities to intensify efforts.
Both Chang-joon and Do Kwon were sentenced to four months in prison for document forgery, however, time spent in detention was included in the sentence.
The court also seized ID Cards, two Costa Rican passports, and two Belgian passports belonging to the duo. After that, reports made rounds that both men would remain in extradition custody until the South Korean request was reviewed.
The Montenegrin Police disclosed that Chang-joon was handed over to police and judicial authorities in South Korea by the Special Police Unit and by NCB Interpol Podgorica.
South Korean authorities will now take up criminal proceedings for multiple offenses in conjunction with fraud allegations linked with the collapse of the Terraform Network in 2022.
“…for the purpose of conducting criminal proceedings for several criminal offenses related to fraud in financial investment services, investments and the capital market, for which a life sentence is threatened prison in South Korea.”
Both the United States and South Korea have filed for Do Kwon and other alleged accomplices to be extradited to face criminal proceedings on events leading up to May 2022.
While this development only covers Chang-joon, Do Kwon’s fate remains pending after he appealed a January decision for his extradition to the United States or South Korea.
In 2022, Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin collapse saw about $60 billion wiped out of the market, sparking wide-ranging controversy among cryptocurrency spaces and increasing regulatory pressure.
South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for the former executive and other accomplices in September but the accused were nowhere to be found.
Interpol subsequently issued a red notice for his arrest after he claimed not to be on the run. Terra’s was one of the huge collapses seen in 2022.
In November, digital asset exchange, FTX filed for bankruptcy with numerous investors losing billions, opening up criminal investigations into the actions of Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives of the company.
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