Trial for former Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon pushed back to March

Trial proceedings for the former CEO of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, have been delayed until late March due to complications surrounding his extradition from Montenegro. Kwon, who was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission in February for the collapse of Terra USD, was originally set to face a jury trial on fraud charges on January 29. However, his lawyer expressed challenges in securing his release from Montenegro, where he is currently held on a prior conviction. Despite Kwon’s consent to extradition, there is uncertainty about his availability for the late March trial. As a result, Judge Jed Rakoff agreed to postpone the trial, bearing in mind that Kwon’s counsel acknowledged that further delays would not be possible. Kwon’s lawyers had originally requested a postponement on January 11, mentioning that extradition proceedings may not commence until February or March due to the complexity of the situation and Kwon’s existing sentence in Montenegro for local charges. Kwon was apprehended in March of the previous year at a Montenegrin airport for attempting to travel with falsified documents. In a ruling issued last month, Judge Rakoff supported the SEC’s claim that Kwon and Terraform Labs engaged in the sale of unregistered securities. While granting summary judgment for the SEC on that particular claim, the judge also sided with Terraform Labs on allegations involving the offering and execution of transactions in security-based swaps.