Montenegro’s Constitutional Court has delayed the extradition of Do Kwon yet again following an appeal from Kwon, suspending the Supreme Court’s ruling that left the Minister of Justice with the final say.

According to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro website, the court has approved a request to defer the execution of his extradition process, “until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.”

Montenegrin daily newspaper Dan reports that Kwon’s legal team made this request after filing an appeal on September 25 against the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Ministry of Justice was reportedly only made aware of this appeal on Friday.

It claims to have suspended the Supreme Court’s September 19 ruling and in turn suspended the final decision of his extradition permit, to either South Korea or the US, which was to be made by the Minister of Justice Bojan Božović.

Read more: Do Kwon extradition already decided by Montenegro Justice Minister

In full, the court decision reads, “The request for the suspension of execution is APPROVED and the execution of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Montenegro, is SUSPENDED, from September 19, 2024, and the decision-making procedure on the permission to extradite the applicant of the constitutional appeal to the DHK, until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.”

The Ministry of Justice reportedly said, “We ask that the Constitutional Court act in this case as soon as possible and that in the future it informs us about it without delay, so that we can continue the activities started in the specific case.”

On Thursday, Božović said he had decided where to extradite Kwon to and that the location would be revealed by the end of the week. Today’s announcement means it is the third time a decision on Kwon’s extradition has been paused. It also marks his sixth submitted appeal.

The Supreme Court had concluded in September that previous rulings from the High Court and Appellate Court were illegal.

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Do Kwon’s extradition verdict has “already been decided” by Montenegro’s Justice Minister and is expected to be announced by this Sunday.

Minister Bojan Božović told Montenegrin daily newspaper Dan that his decision “will be signed by the end of this working week,” letting the world know if Kwon is off to South Korea, or the United States to face criminal charges for the billion-dollar collapse of Terra/Luna. 

Last September the Supreme Court decided previous Kwon rulings were illegal and passed the extradition decision onto Božović. 

However, Božović appears to feel the weight of this decision and told Dan, “Maybe it would be easier for me if it wasn’t like this and if the court had decided to which country he should be extradited.”

Read more: Do Kwon transferred crypto from prison after police failed to seize keys, report

He added, “On the other hand, when the court leaves us to decide, I have to act accordingly.”

It has previously been reported that Kwon might have been used as leverage for an airport trade deal that would give South Korea control of Montenegro’s airports for 30 years.

Local publishers also reported that Kwon had access to his electronic devices, such as laptops and phones, for 72 days while in Montenegro’s Spuž prison. Two more sources alleged he was able to make at least three crypto transactions from prison.  

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Do Kwon has allegedly been able to make several crypto payments from a Montenegro prison after authorities took 72 days to seize his crypto wallet login details and various electronic devices.

The disgraced Terra founder was arrested on March 23, 2023, but his electronic devices weren’t handed over to the investigating judge until June of that year, according to a report published by Portal ETV.

An official from Montenegro’s Special Police Department told Portal ETV that laptops, mobile phones, crypto wallet login details, and “other codes for accessing the blockchain,” were all found during a search of prison detainees including Do.

Read more: Montenegro’s PM likely lied about Do Kwon meeting after Luna buy

Two sources claim that at least three crypto transactions were made using Do’s crypto wallet during his time in custody. They were allegedly made through an account tied to a Podgorica mobile telephony firm. It’s worth noting Portal ETV could not confirm these alleged transactions.

Sources from Montenegro’s National Security Agency (ANB) also claim that the devices were only confiscated from Do after the Minister of Police and Police Directorate requested the removal of “everything that should have been confiscated on the first day of arrest.”

Do Kwon’s arrest may have been a planned operation

Before Montenegro, Do flew to Serbia after an international arrest warrant was issued in September 2022. Portal ETV reports that he was eventually forced out of Serbia due to media pressure in late 2022 and early 2023 over the country hiding a crypto fraudster.

Do was allegedly driven from Belgrade to Montenegro with Serbia’s state security accompanying him as part of a plan to fly him to a country in the Middle East with lax extradition policies. Sources, however, claim his arrest was planned and that Montenegro’s border force was tipped off about Do’s forged passports.

Read more: Do Kwon was leverage in South Korea airport deal, ex-minister claims

The article also reports that Do’s mobile phone, one of the devices that was actually confiscated by police during his arrest, suddenly turned on when a secret tunnel leading to the High Court evidence room was discovered. Authorities reportedly failed to investigate if it was a coincidence or suspicious event.

Do’s extradition to either South Korea or the US is still yet to be decided by Montenegro’s justice minister.

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Do Kwon’s controversial extradition to South Korea could have been part of a trade deal that would give the country control of Montenegro’s airports for 30 years, according to the former Justice Minister.

Andrej Milović, who is now running for mayor, told publisher Vijesti that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić would use Do Kwon as a tool to trade state interests and resources “as compensation for covering up this case.”

Spajić supposedly prepared for months to give France concession over Montenegro’s airports. However, Milović says that he began to “speak positively” about a South Korean airport deal after the court of appeal ruled that Do should be extradited to South Korea.

“Therefore, I ask Spajić, did he extort extradition in order to cover up the case, in exchange for the Montenegrin Airport concession?” he said.  

He added, “By extraditing Do Kwon to South Korea, we would not learn the complete truth about the Do Kwon case, the role of Spajić, Abazović and other actors.”

The airport concession proposal has reportedly been in the works for years as South Korea’s Incheon Airport, Luxemburg-based Corporacion America Airports, and France’s Paris Airports wait to present their final offer. The new proposal would involve a 30-year concession plan.

Spajić has been accused of meeting Do Kwon on various occasions and SEC filings show he invested $75,000 to buy tokens from Do’s catastrophic Terraform/Luna crypto venture. 

This summer, Montenegro’s High Court and Court of Appeal ruled that Do was going to be extradited to South Korea. However, on September 19, the Supreme Court decided these rulings were illegal and left it up to Justice Minister Bojan Božović to decide on Do’s extradition. 

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The Supreme Court is reportedly expected to decide if the Do Kwon extradition judgment violated the law by the end of the month, according to its acting president. 

Indeed, Vesna Vučković told the Montenegrin publisher Vijesti that the Supreme Court will be deciding on a “request for the protection of legality” filed by the Supreme State Prosecutor. 

Vučković says the prosecutor believes there have been multiple law violations from the High Court and Appellate Court final judgments regarding the extradition of the disgraced crypto founder Do Kwon. 

She noted objective reasons have prevented the Supreme Court from scheduling a session to decide on the prosecutor’s legal request.

Read more: Montenegro’s PM likely lied about Do Kwon meeting after Luna buy

Protos has charted his court journey and found the latest extradition postponement from the Supreme Court marked the 20th development in his case and the Supreme Court’s second intervention.

Vučković noted that it’s not a good look if the Supreme Court decides defendants were illegally favored in final High Court and Appellate Court judgments within a few short months.  

She said, “That should worry us because it creates additional legal uncertainty for citizens, but also for judges of lower courts, who monitor judicial practice.” 

In April, the US found Do liable for fraud in relation to the $40 billion collapse of his Terra/Luna cryptocurrency firm. Both the US and South Korea want to extradite Do from Montenegro. 

Montenegro’s president also commented on Do’s case, noting that the current prime minister said he never knew Do on the day of his arrest. The PM personally bought 750,000 Terraform/Luna tokens before Do’s arrest, contradicting his statement to the president.  

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on X, Instagram, Bluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Quotes in bold are our emphasis.

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Montenegro’s prime minister lied to the country’s president when he reportedly told him that he didn’t know who Do Kwon was on the day of his arrest, despite striking up a deal for 750,000 Terra/Luna tokens and allegedly meeting Do Kwon several times.

That’s according to the president of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, who reportedly asked prime minister Milojko Spajić if he knew who Do Kwon was during a Europe Now! (PES) political party meeting on the day of Do’s arrest.

Translated from Montenegrin, the president said on Aplus television, “I asked him if he knew Do Kwon. He told me he didn’t know him. He also said that in front of ten members of PES, who are now ministers” (our emphasis).

Read more: Do Kwon was recorded meeting Montenegrin PM, says former minister

Milatović also said during the interview that, “Montenegro should not become a safe destination for criminals, it sends a bad image,” and that authorities “owe us all the truth about Čamgoz and Do Kwon.”

In May, the former PM, Dritan Abazovićmp, alleged Spajić met Do to purchase millions of dollars worth of Terra/Luna tokens for a Bulgarian-based, Singaporean-headquartered hedge fund called Das Capital.

This is corroborated by SEC filings that reveal that Spajić invested $75,000 to buy 750,000 Terra/Luna tokens from Do Kwon’s Terraform labs.

Former justice minister Andrej Milović also claimed Serbia’s government intelligence agency recorded Spajić meeting Do at his villa. A letter from Do claims that he has known Spajić since 2018 while meeting several times in Belgrade, Serbia.  

Aid of Nigel Farage in Montenegro politics

Milatović told Aplus television that Spajić introduced him to George Cottrell during the party meeting. George Cottrell is a convicted fraudster who works as an aide for right-wing UK politician Nigel Farage, and allegedly owned an illegal crypto ATM. 

Read more: Bitfinex, Tether shareholder paid $40K for Farage to visit Trump after rally shooting

Spajić is said to have introduced Cottrell to the president “as a genius in the part of PR for election campaigns,” and Milatović agreed that Cottrell can help advise PES. ​​Milatović stressed that Cottrell did not participate during his presidential campaign.

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Do Kwon was allegedly recorded by Serbia’s government intelligence agency​​ at a meeting with Montenegrin prime minister Milojko Spajic, according to former justice minister Andrej Milović.

This is despite Spajic denying the pair had held any meetings after Do reportedly stated in a letter last year that he has known Spajic since 2018 and that the pair held meetings in Belgrade.

According to Montenegrin outlet Vijesti, Milović made the claim at the ‘Podgorica list’ presentation where he claimed, “If I wanted to remain silent, I would still be a minister.” Milović is currently running for mayor in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica. 

The former minister said that Spajić was recorded by Serbia’s BIA agency meeting Do at his villa. 

The country’s former PM, Dritan Abazovićmp, also accused Spajić of meeting Kwon in Serbia to purchase millions of dollars worth of Terra/Luna tokens for a Bulgarian-based, Singaporean-headquartered hedge fund called Das Capital.

Read more: Fallout from Do Kwon arrest continues in Montenegro

Milović has previously claimed that Spajić attempted to prevent Do’s extradition to the US with the purpose of sending him to South Korea. Do is reportedly likely to receive a lighter sentence if he is extradited to South Korea. 

It’s worth noting that Milović is also under investigation by Montenegro’s current Justice Minister, Bojan Božović, for refusing to extradite an alleged Kurdish crime boss to Turkey.

He claimed that both Spajić and Božović want him to be extradited to Turkey to ensure funding for infrastructure projects in Montenegro.

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In a case similar to that of accused fraudster Do Kwon, an alleged crypto scammer accused of stealing more than $20 million has been arrested while on the run in Montenegro and now faces an anxious wait to find out if he will be extradited to South Korea or Poland.

Polish national Roman Ziemian, who is an alleged co-founder of crypto Ponzi scheme FutureNet, was originally arrested in Italy in 2022 but escaped while under house arrest.

Police in Montenegro announced his recapture on Sunday, detailing how the accused crypto scammer was apprehended on August 17 in a newly built residential block in the capital Podgorica. Ziemian, 51, who was reportedly living under a false identity, has denied all accusations and will appeal his extradition. 

Read more: CHART: Every Do Kwon extradition twist and turn

It remains to be seen how swiftly this process will move given that the extradition of disgraced Terra/Luna founder Do Kwon has taken almost a year and has been dogged by reversals, appeals, and controversy. 

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The post Another suspected high-profile crypto scammer caught in Montenegro appeared first on Protos.

Montenegro, the small Balkan nation that Do Kwon fled to before he was arrested for holding false and flagged passports, is continuing to feel significant political reverberations from his apprehension, with current Justice Minister Bojan Božović investigating non-extradition decisions made by his predecessor Andrej Milović.

The investigation by Božović was launched after Milović suggested that Do shouldn’t be extradited to South Korea, as it would impede the concurrent investigation taking place in the United States.

Milović implied that he believes Prime Minister Milojko Spajić is purposely trying to send Do to South Korea so that he won’t be implicated in the collapse of Luna.

However, the investigation into Milović has nothing to do with Do. Rather, it concerns a refusal to extradite supposed Kurdish crime boss Binali Camgoz back to Turkey.

While Montenegrin courts have said Camgoz’s extradition should be allowed and the Montenegrin secret service has suggested his presence in the country is dangerous, Milović has instead claimed that sending the Kurd back to Turkey is desired by Spajić and Božović to ensure funding for infrastructure projects in Montenegro.

It’s worth noting that Milović is currently running for mayor of Podgorica — the capital of Montenegro — which is often a jumping board for further political ambitions. Milović and Prime Minister Spajić are also in competing political parties.

Read more: Do Kwon is single-handedly ripping Montenegro apart

Messy extraditions and political upheaval

Regardless, what this has proven yet again is that Do Kwon’s existence within Montenegrin borders has thrown disarray into the political-upper echelons and shown how flimsy and unreliable extraditions can be in general.

Meanwhile, nearly a year and a half ago, Do’s lawyer told Protos life in Montenegro would be “grim” for Do and that he expected it to take “at least a year” before any extradition occurred.

The same lawyer is now requesting half a million dollars in claims from the Luna estate due to his representation of Do. It’s unclear when he will be extradited or whether it will be to South Korea or the US.

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While Montenegro continues to flip-flop on where — or even if — to extradite Do Kwon, it appears that the crypto scammer is managing to single-handedly rip the Balkan nation apart.

Most recently, the former minister of justice, Andrej Milovic, accused current prime minister, Milojko Spajić, of purposely attempting to have Do extradited to South Korea instead of the United States for his own selfish reasons.

Milovic said, “Prime minister Milojko Spajić and his close friend lawyer Goran Rodić, Do Kwon’s defender, are trying in every way to prevent Do Kwon’s extradition to the USA, in order not to stop the complete investigation by the US judicial authorities and examine the business relationship between Do Kwon and Spajić, which they had before the indisputably mounted the pre-election scandal surrounding the arrival of Do Kwon in Montenegro and the connection with the financing of PES (the political party of Spajić).”

He also claimed that he lost his role specifically because he intended to have Do extradited to the US, saying, “Spajić could not come to terms with the fact that with my legal knowledge… I prevented the illegal and rigged extradition to South Korea, about which we had a private discussion, which was ultimately one of the reasons for my dismissal.”

The picture painted by Milovic suggests a country rife with corruption and conspiracies even at the highest levels of public office. Spajić has already admitted to meeting with Do before the latter’s arrival in Montenegro and to purchasing 750,000 LUNA tokens in 2018 (though he had previously stated that the purchase was for his employer — a claim which proved to be untrue).

Also, the lawyer representing Do, Goran Rodic, has filed claims worth over $500,000 against Terraform Labs. The claim is an invoice for legal representation in extradition proceedings for Do and seems to suggest that he hasn’t been, nor does he expect to be, paid for his service.

Read more: The high-profile LUNA investors — from prime ministers to beauty queens

Office of the PM fires back

Speaking to Montenegrin-media outlet Vijesti, the PM’s office said that all of Milovic’s claims were false and that Spajić had dismissed the justice minister because he “wanted to cover up the non-extradition of the leader of the Turkish branch of the Kavak clan, Binali Čamgoz, to his home country with false affairs that he suddenly remembered after his justifiable dismissal.”

Čamgoz is accused of a double murder and, like Do Kwon, was caught in Montenegro with a fake passport. While Do has had his extradition tussled over by two competing nations, Čamgoz hasn’t been sent back to Turkey apparently due to his Kurdish ancestry and the fact he could be unduly persecuted.

While deflecting the claims made by Milovic, the PM’s office instead said the accusations were “fabricated affairs and conspiracy theories that serve to cover a Maradona-style bravado,” and an attempt to position Milovic to win the mayoral race in Podgorica.

This led to Milovic to respond in kind, saying that he “received congratulations from the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and ministers from the EU” for his judgment not to send Čamgoz back to Turkey.

Read more: Do Kwon appeal claims lawyers had 20 mins to review docs before hearing

Do threatens Montenegro’s rise to the EU

For years, Montenegro has been negotiating to attain EU membership and recently, it’s been said by the German Chancellor that such an ascendency could be as little as four years away. But, with realistic claims of corruption from the former minister of justice, it seems dubious that it could occur that quickly.

However, it’s also worth pointing out that it’s not clear why the US would stop investigating co-conspirators and political corruption claims just due to Do being extradited to South Korea, nor why Montenegro wouldn’t do a wide-scale investigation of its own.

Regardless, the situation continues to unravel and appear worse and worse for PM Spajić, who is fighting for his political life.

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