Do Kwon asks US court to postpone SEC case amid extradition delays
Disgraced Terra founder Do Kwon has asked a US court to delay his trial against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so that he can attend, as extradition proceedings from Montenegro have been delayed.
Kwon, who was arrested in Podgorica last year attempting to board a plane with a fake ID, is wanted in the US, South Korea, and Singapore to face accusations of mass fraud, after his Terra Luna ecosystem collapsed.
According to the SEC, four of Kwon’s crypto assets were unregistered securities. These include TerraUSD and Luna, whose crashes had long-lasting effects on the market. Kwon’s lawyers deny the claims.
Extradition from Montenegro was delayed after Kwon successfully appealed in a Podgorica court. The case must now be revisited. He has previously expressed his desire to be extradited to South Korea instead of the US. However, his next destination will ultimately be decided by the local court.
Read more: Do Kwon reverses Montenegro’s extradition decision… for now
Do Kwon “wishes to attend his [SEC] trial,” lawyers said in a letter to the presiding judge on Friday. “Counsel had hoped the extradition proceedings in Montenegro would proceed more quickly than they have,” the document continued. “Unfortunately, it now appears that Mr. Kwon is not likely to be extradited until February or March at the earliest.”
Judge Rakoff must now decide whether to grant what Kwon’s lawyers referred to as a “short adjournment” to mid-March. If denied, Kwon requests that the jury be informed that his absence wasn’t of his own volition, in order to avoid undue prejudice.
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