Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon’s request to remain in prison pending his trial for allegedly using a fake passport was denied Wednesday by a court in Montenegro.
A lower court previously awarded the creator of the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its former chief financial officer bail of 400,000 euros, or about $435,000to remain under house arrest with police supervision until trial.
That decision was overturned after the prosecution appealed. The court that originally made the bail decision must now make a new ruling, but there is no limit to the number of motions that can be made between lower and higher courts on the issue of bail, according to Bloomberg. Kwon, at least for now, remains in prison.
Kwon pleaded not guilty after being arrested for allegedly trying to use a fake Costa Rican passport on a flight from Montenegro to Dubai. Kwon and Han Chang-joon are also being held as described by authorities fake Belgian passports as well as their travel documents to South Korea. Kwon has eluded authorities in several countries since South Korea issued a warrant for his arrest in September.
Prosecutors in South Korea and the US are seeking to extradite him, but that must come after his trial in Montenegro. If he is tried in South Korea, he could face 40 years in prison – the maximum sentence given in the country for financial crimes, the lead prosecutor in his case told the Wall Street Journal.
Federal prosecutors in New York accused Kwon of conspiracy to defraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to engage in market manipulation.