Fugitive crypto tycoon Kwon Do-Hyung who was allegedly behind a cryptocurrency scam that cost investors USD 40 billion has been arrested in Montenegro.
The disgraced 31-year-old boss was seized at flight control at the Podgorica Airport, Montenegro, on 23rd March 2023.
The tycoon – known as Do Kwon – and a friend called Joon Hon Chang were reportedly detained with fake Costa Rican passports trying to board a flight to Dubai, UAE.
The arrests came to light after Montenegro’s Interior Minister Fili Adzic, 36, said: “Montenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs.
“The former ‘cryptocurrency king’, who is behind losses of more than USD 40 billion [GBP 32.7 billion], was detained at the Podgorica airport with falsified documents.
“He has also been sought after by South Korea, the USA and Singapore. We are waiting for official confirmation of identity.”
The fall of his TerraUSD stablecoin and its sister coin Luna last May wiped USD 40 billion from the crypto market and set off panic in the crypto community.
Montenegro’s Ministry of Internal Affairs later said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “As the Minister of Internal Affairs, Filip Adzic, announced earlier today, two Korean citizens, Kwon Do Hyeong and Hon Chang Joon, were deprived of their liberty and brought to the ODT in Podgorica on criminal charges, for the criminal offence of forging a document under Article 412 paragraph 2 of the CCCG.
“During the inspection of the luggage, travel documents from Belgium and South Korea were also found. Interpol checks found that the Belgian documents were falsified.”
Additionally, the ministry revealed that a total of three laptops and five mobile phones were seized from both at the request of Podgorica’s Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Kwon was targeted by several investigations and his name was on Interpol’s red notice list following his disappearance.
Millions of investors lost fortunes through the collapse of Kwon’s tokens which lost 99 per cent of their value virtually overnight.
The maximum price of the tokens had reached USD 116 (GBP 95) before falling to USD 0.0002 (GBP 0.00016) in May last year.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against Kwon on Thursday, 16th February 2023.
It came after evidence showed that Kwon and his firm allegedly transferred more than 10,000 Bitcoin – currently worth about USD 282 million (GBP 230 million) – to a cold wallet, a secure storage device.
His native South Korea also issued an arrest warrant against him in September 2022.
The fugitive denied that he was hiding through a Twitter post, but had not revealed his whereabouts.
He was reportedly last seen in Serbia a few months ago, prior to his arrest.
