The case of Do Kwon, the founder of the Terra ecosystem (LUNA), is gaining new political urgency. US court documents Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić was one of the early investors in Terraform Labs. The daily newspaper “Vijesti” was the first to report reportedThis involvement raises many questions in light of Kwon’s halted extradition.
The collapse of the Terra ecosystem is considered by many to be one of the biggest frauds in the crypto space. In May 2022, the in-house algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its peg to the US dollar, dragging the native cryptocurrency LUNA into the abyss with it. The decline wiped out almost 40 billion US dollars within a few days.
Terraform Labs, the company behind the project, and its founder Do Kwon, have now been convicted of fraud in a civil case in the US. Both parties are also required to pay almost $4.5 billion in fines.
The big question, however, is: Will Do Kwon be extradited? So far, it seemed as if the efforts of the USA and South Korea, both of which are prosecuting the 32-year-old, had failed for the time being. The highest Montenegrin court in Podgorica stopped Kwon’s extradition in March. The official reason was “serious violations of criminal law provisions”. The South Korean has now been released from custody. His passport has been confiscated and he is not allowed to leave the country.
How deeply was Spajić involved in Terra (LUNA)?
However, as the US court documents now show, the political implications seem to be greater than previously thought. The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, was apparently one of the early investors in Terraform Labs. His name appears on a list of investors.
According to the table, Spajić transferred 75,000 US dollars to Terraform Labs on April 17, 2018 – presumably in cryptocurrencies. According to research by Vijesti, he is said to have received 750,000 LUNA tokens for this. At the time of the all-time high in spring 2022 (119 US dollars), Spajić’s investment was worth around 90 million US dollars. It remains unclear whether the prime minister sold his LUNA holdings before the collapse. According to information from the daily newspaper, Spajić is said to have complained to several people about massive losses. A request from Vijesti remained unanswered.
Spajić publicly stressed that the investment was not privately financed, but rather by a Singapore fund where he was employed. Andrej Milović, a close confidant of the current prime minister, presented the investment contract on television. It clearly states that Spajić and not the Singapore company “DAS Capital SG” is the contracting party.
According to Vijesti, he had previously disclosed holdings in various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to the national anti-corruption authority. However, his LUNA investment was not included. This omission could now cost the prime minister dearly. It is unclear to what extent there is a connection between Spajić’s involvement in Terraform Labs and the prevented extradition of Do Kwon.
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