- Do Kwon denies passport forgery, and blames the Chinese agency in a legal battle.
- Alleged financial ties between Do Kwon and Montenegrin politician disputed.
Terraform Labs founder, Do Kwon, firmly denied allegations of forging travel documentation and distanced himself from any financial connections with Europe Now party leader, Milojko Spajić, during a Montenegro court hearing. Kwon attributed the alleged passport forgery to a Chinese-named agency.
According to a report by South Korean news outlet Segye Ilbo on June 17, Kwon revealed in court that he had obtained his passports, including a Costa Rican passport, through third-party “agencies” recommended by acquaintances. He argued that he had used his Costa Rican passport without any doubts about its authenticity throughout the years.
When pressed for details about the agency responsible for procuring his passports, Kwon admitted to being unable to recall the precise name, only mentioning that it was “in Chinese.”
Endless Court Turmoil
During the hearing, Kwon vehemently denied allegations of financial donations to Milojko Spajić, the current leader of the Europe Now party. Despite Kwon’s claims of innocence, reports have circulated in Korean media for years. It suggests his clandestine sponsorship of a prominent Montenegrin politician using illicit funds.
Judge Ivana Becić, presiding over the case, announced that a verdict on the forgery charges would be delivered on June 19. Meanwhile, Kwon will remain in extradition custody for a maximum of six months as the court reviews extradition requests from South Korea.
Kwon, along with former Terraform Labs Chief Financial Officer Han Chong-joon, was initially arrested in Montenegro on March 23. He allegedly possessed forged documents while attempting to depart for Dubai on a private flight. The court initially approved their bail of 400,000 euros, but they later overturned the decision on appeal. However, on June 5, they dismissed their appeal.
The collapse of Terraform Labs’ Terra ecosystem in May 2022 resulted in substantial losses estimated at up to $40 billion. Kwon’s ongoing custody in Montenegro, coupled with extradition requests from South Korea and the United States. Further compound his legal predicament, potentially leading to imprisonment for the document forgery charges.
