PODGORICA - Montenegro's top court on March 22 decided to delay the extradition of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea until it clarifies prosecution complaints about the legality of its extradition ruling, the court said on its website.

The Supreme State Prosecution Office had earlier filed a request challenging the shortened procedure that led to the court ruling earlier in March approving Kwon's extradition to South Korea to face criminal charges relating to the collapse of his multi-billion dollar crypto enterprise.

The country's top prosecutor also challenged some technical procedures relating to the court's extradition order.

That ruling by the court had overturned a decision to hand over the jailed crypto entrepreneur to the United States, where a civil trial on US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud charges against Kwon was scheduled to start on March 25.

Kwon and his company Terraform Labs were sued by the SEC in February 2023 over the May 2022 collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies, which the authorities have said caused about US$40 billion (S$53.98 billion) of losses in crypto markets.

The SEC said Terraform and Kwon deceived investors about the stability of TerraUSD, a “stablecoin” designed to maintain a constant US$1 price, and how a popular Korean mobile payment app used the Terraform blockchain to settle transactions.

Kwon, who has been held in Montenegro since his arrest in March 2023, has denied wrongdoing. REUTERS