Do Kwon’s Extradition Likely to Take Time, Montenegrin Prosecutor Says

March 28, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Crypto.com customer accused of $7M spending spree granted bail

March 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bail

The judge said that imprisonment wasn’t necessary because Jatinder Singh couldn’t flee Australia without his Indian passport.

The Crypto.com customer who was accidentally sent $6.95 million from the exchange in 2021 and then allegedly went on a spending spree has been granted bail in Australia despite $2 million funds still unaccounted for.

In the Victorian County Court, prosecutors on March 20 tried to convince the judge that imprisonment would be the only way to ensure that Jatinder Singh would not flee the country.

The blunder by Crypto.com came about when a Bulgarian-based employee accidentally transferred $6.95 million to his account instead of what was meant to be a $100 refund in May 2021. The Melbourne man is alleged to have bought four houses and a car with the funds, along with sending a portion overseas.

Prosecutors argued that Singh is financially motivated to flee the country because only $4.9 million has been recovered, according to a report from the Herald Sun.

*The theft charges of Singh and Manivel are being dealt with by the Victorian County Court. Source: Country Court of Victoria*

Of the missing $2 million, over $1.45 million is believed to have been shifted offshore to Malaysia, the court heard.

Senior Constable Conor Healy told the judge that Singh “may have access to the outstanding money that has not been recovered yet,” while prosecutor Peter Botros argued that Singh posed an “unacceptable” flight risk because he was living without a visa, had no family in Australia and was unemployed prior to his arrest.

However, Judge Daniel Holding didn’t think this was enough to put Singh behind bars. He instead explained that confiscating Singh’s Indian passport and preventing him from applying for a new one at the Indian Embassy would be sufficient:

“If there is a condition that he not have a passport or he not apply for a passport … how does he manage to flee the country?”

Singh is facing a series of theft charges alongside his partner, Thevamanogari Manivel, who is the owner of the bank account to which the funds were transferred.

Both pleaded not guilty to the charges. They continue to claim that they rightfully won the $7 million through a Crypto.com contest.

While the incident occured in May 2021, it was not discovered until an annual audit in December 2021.

The Singaporean-based cryptocurrency exchange has since launched civil action in the Victorian Supreme Court to recover the losses.

The Victoria Supreme Court h ruled that the funds must be returned to the company.

Terra co-founder Do Kwon hiding out in Serbia, authorities say

December 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

arrest warrant

South Korean authorities have requested cooperation from the Serbian government in order to bring Kwon back to face charges in South Korea.

The global manhunt for Terraform Labs' controversial founder and CEO Do Kwon continues to rage on, with South Korean authorities now believing he's in Serbia after leaving Singapore in September.

According to a Dec. 11 report from Chosun Media, South Korean authorities followed a tip-off concerning Do Kwon's whereabouts suggesting he is now in Serbia and has been able to confirm it.

"Recently, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was found to be true," an official told the outlet.

The report also states that South Korea’s Ministry of Finance “is in the process of requesting cooperation from the Serbian government” as part of the investigation.

South Korean authorities have been on the hunt for Do Kwon since Terra's collapse, but haven't seemed to have had much luck pinpointing his location until now.

The 31-year-old was understood to have moved to Singapore toward the end of April, just before the Terra ecosystem’s shock collapse.

On Sept. 14, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office's Financial and Securities Criminal Unit issued an arrest warrant against Kwon for allegedly violating South Korean capital markets laws.

Around that time, authorities in Singapore confirmed that Kwon was no longer in the country, and was understood to have flown to Dubai in transit to a new unknown destination.

Shortly after that, on Sept. 26, Interpol also reportedly issued a “Red Notice” against Kwon. As of Dec. 11, however, Do Kwon doesn't appear to have been added to Interpol’s Red Notice database on the website.

On Oct. 6, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an order for Kwon to surrender his passport. The ministry added that failure to comply would result in the cancellation of his passport altogether.

Later that month, prosecutors in South Korea c onfirmed reports that Do Kwon had flown to Dubai for a possible stopover before heading to another destination — which, as it turns out, might have been Serbia.

If Do Kwon turns out to be in Serbia, it remains to be seen what, if any, legal strings can be pulled from South Korea to try to extradite the Terraform Labs founder.

While South Korea has entered into a bilateral extradition treaty with 31 countries, Serbia is not among them. However, South Korea has also entered into a much broader multilateral extradition treaty with the Council of Europe, to which Serbia is a signatory.

Kwon has maintained that he is not “on the run” and has been “making zero effort to hide." He's continued to be active on social media over the last few months.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May was partly triggered by the depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD Classic, USTC (formerly UST), which in turn brought down its sister asset Luna Classic, LUNC (formerly LUNA) by nearly 100%.

Cointelegraph reached out to representatives for Terraform Labs for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

South Korean prosecutors accuse Do Kwon of manipulating Terra’s price

November 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

arrest warrant

Prosecutors have reportedly secured a "messenger conversation" in which Kwon ordered an employee to manipulate Terra's market price.

A local report from South Korea claims that the country's prosecutors have obtained evidence to suggest Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon had onceordered an employee to manipulate the price of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC).

A report by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) on Nov. 3 quotes an official from the South Korean Prosecutors Office, who said they have obtained a "conversation history" in which "CEO Kwon specifically ordered price manipulation."

The reported evidence came in the form of a "messenger conversation" between Kwon and a former Terraform Labs employee. Prosecutors did not disclose further details, noting:

“I can’t reveal details, but it was a conversation history where CEO Kwon specifically ordered price manipulation.”

While the exact details of the price manipulation remain undisclosed, the price action of Terra’s LUNC (formerly LUNA) during the last bull market was undoubtedly one of the most impressive across all cryptocurrencies.

Its price rose over 2,800% from $4.18 in late May 2021 to its all-time high of $119.18 on Apr. 5. 2022, before its cataclysmic fall on Apr. 30, according to CoinGecko data.

The report however notes that Kwon's representative has continued to deny these allegations.

Kwon and his representatives have also previously denied alleged violations of South Korea's capital markets laws.

In September, Terraform Labs said the case against its co-founder has become "highly politicized" and that prosecutors expanded the definition of a security in response to public pressure.

Kwon’s whereabouts now point to Europe

Kwon's whereabouts ultimately continue to remain a mystery, despite the Terra ecosystem co-founder previously arguing he is "not on the run."

Previous reports have suggested Kwon first moved from South Korea to Singapore, before transitioning to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The KBS report now suggests Kwon is residing somewhere in Europe, and as of Nov. 3, without a valid passport.

“Kwon, who has an arrest warrant, had his passport invalidated as of today,” the report stated, adding:

“Do Kwon is now an illegal immigrant, wherever he is, in any country, and he cannot travel legally between countries.”

If found, Kwon will also have to deal with a $57 million lawsuit recently filed against him, his fellow Terra co-founder Nicholas Platias and the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) in the Singapore High Court.

The plaintiff argued that Kwon, Platias and the LFG fraudulently claimed Terra’s stablecoin, Terra USD (UST) — now TerraUSD Classic (USTC) — was “stable by design” and able to maintain its peg to the U.S. dollar.

The worldwide law enforcement effort to pinpoint the controversial CEO’s location hasn’t stopped Kwon from being active on social media, with the most recent Twitter post from Kwon shared on Nov. 3.

Strangely, these last few weeks have been one of the most creative periods of my life. https://t.co/iE6DuwceVF
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) November 3, 2022

Cointelegraph reached out to Terraform Labs and the South Korean Prosecutor's Office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Plans to Revoke Do Kwon’s Passport: Report

September 15, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Hackers Offer to Sell Belarus President Lukashenko’s Passport as NFT

September 3, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Vitalik Buterin Becomes Citizen of Crypto-Friendly Montenegro

April 14, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Harmony launches Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Passport

February 19, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bored Apes

Announced live at ETH Denver, the upcoming NFT Passports also feature cross-chain support.

On Friday, blockchain platform Harmony — whose mainnet runs on the Ethereum network, claiming to have two-second transaction finality and fees 1,000 times lower than Ethereum — announced the launch of its Bored Ape Yacht Club Passport. The Passport enables users to import proof of their apes into DeFi Kingdoms, a play-to-earn game built on the Harmony blockchain with over 120,000 monthly active users. During its initial stages, Ape holders will be able to validate and display their assets in the game across multiple blockchains when they connect their MetaMask wallet to DeFi Kingdoms.

The infancy of cross-chain technology means that funds could be at risk when bridging across chains, as the biggest decentralized finance hack thus far this year showed. However, as stated by its developers, Harmony’s Passport does not move assets; instead, it proves asset ownership across multiple blockchains, guaranteeing their authenticity throughout. Its cross-chain bridge, Horizon, currently supports interoperability between Harmony, Ethereum, BNB Chain and three other blockchains.

Leo Chen, a team member at Harmony, explained:

“We wanted to give all NFT holders more utility and options to display their NFTs and participate in the Metaverse. Bored Ape Yacht Club holders are the first choices. The cross-chain identity creates a secure and easy way to do so without putting their assets at risk.”

In a similar gesture, last month, Twitter kicked off its nonfungible token campaign, allowing its paid subscribers to show off their NFT possessions as profile pictures. However, the technical functionalities of the feature are in the testing phase, with only Ethereum-based NFTs eligible and no support for cross-chain functionalities.

Passport

Kwon’s whereabouts now point to Europe

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