Interpol confirms arrest of crypto fugitive Do Kwon in Montenegro

Seoul/Atlanta CNN

Interpol reports that a Montenegro man was arrested by Kwon Dohyeong. Also known as Do Kwon (the disgraced founder and CEO of a defunct crypto company), Do Kwon is wanted in South Korea for fraud and other related charges.

Kwon, a South Korean citizen, created the blockchain platform that underpins TerraUSD stablecoins and Luna. In a matter of days, both coins lost their value in May 2022. This wiped out $40 billion of the crypto market and set off panic in the speculative sector.

Kwon's identity was confirmed by a fingerprint match, Interpol Seoul's central bureau said to CNN Friday.

Filip Adzic, Montenegrin Interior Affairs Minister, wrote on social media a day earlier that Kwon was being held in Podgorica.

Adzic stated in a Facebook post that Adzic was detained at the airport with fake documentation. He is wanted by many countries including South Korea and Singapore.

Kwon, who was running Terraform Labs' blockchain platform Terraform Labs, was based in Singapore. Seoul prosecutors said in December to CNN that Kwon was believed to be in Serbia after he left Singapore via Dubai.

Kwon was arrested by a South Korean court in September after being accused of fraud by investors following the collapse of his company.

Kwon was charged with fraud and breaching South Korea's capital market law. Kwon claimed in October that he did not believe the charges were valid and that they were 'politically motivated'

Although the crypto developer claimed repeatedly on Twitter that he wasn't 'on-the run', he refused to reveal his location due to concerns about his personal safety.

Terraform Labs was behind TerraUSD. This stablecoin was supposed to have a $1 price point.

The so-called crypto winter' was triggered by the collapse of TerraUSD (two linked coins) and Luna (two more). The industry was still struggling to recover from that event, even though it suffered another major blow in November from the fall of crypto exchange FTX.