The fallen founder of Terraform Labs faces multiple criminal charges in the U.S.

Montenegro’s justice minister has said he intends to extradite Terraform Labs’ fallen founder Do Kwon to the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Kwon faces multiple criminal charges in the U.S., including conspiracy to defraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud, along with civil charges. Terraform Labs collapsed in May 2022 after its UST stablecoin terraUSD (UST), which was supposed to hold a $1 peg, started to wobble and fell to 35 cents on May 9. Terra’s companion LUNA token, which was designed to stabilize UST, also imploded.

Montenegro’s justice minister, Andrej Milovic, has the final say on where Kwon is extradited. Milovic is unlikely to announce a final decision until Montenegro courts rule on a last-ditch appeal by Kwon against the court’s ruling to extradite him.

Kwon has been sitting in a jail cell in the Balkan country since March when Montenegro policy arrested him in Montenegro’s capital city of Podgorica. But he has been the focus of a wrestling match between justice departments in the U.S. and South Korea, where he is also being investigated.

Kwon was found carrying falsified documents, tweeted Montenegro’s interior minister Filip Adžić in March. The Terra founder and an alleged accomplice, Terraform Labs’ CFO Han Chang Joon, were reportedly trying to board a plane to Dubai at Podgorica airport using forged Costa Rican and Belgian passports.

Read More: Do Kwon Arrested in Montenegro, Faces Criminal Charges From US Prosecutors

U.S. prosecutors brought a fresh set of charges against Kwon, hours after the news of his arrest. The Southern District of New York filed criminal charges against Kwon for his role in the collapse of LUNA and terraUSD.

As per the indictment, he faces eight counts, including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought a civil lawsuit against Kwon, alleging he orchestrated a “multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud.”

Kwon has repeatedly claimed that he is “not on the run,” despite South Korean authorities stripping him of his passport and Interpol issuing a red notice to law enforcement worldwide, calling for his arrest.

In an episode of Unchained in Oct. 2022, Kwon explained why he has been reluctant to disclose his location to the public and talks about the events that unfolded during the week of UST’s depegging.