Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon told a Montenegro court that he wasn’t aware the passport he was traveling with was allegedly forged and instead pinned the blame on a Chinese-named agency.
In a June 17 report from South Korean news outlet Segye Ilbo, Kwon told the Montenegrin Basic Court he received his allegedly forged passports and travel documentation, including a Costa Rican passport, through third-party “agencies.”
According to Kwon, because he'd been traveling with his Costa Rican passport “for years” he had no reason to doubt its authenticity.
The prosecution pressed Kwon for further details on the agency he used for his passports, but Kwon said he couldn’t “remember exactly,” adding he only knew the agency’s name was “in Chinese.”
Kwon was questioned alongside his colleague and former Terraform Labs chief financial officer Han Chong-joon.
In addition to denying forgery of travel documentation, Kwon denied allegations he made any financial donations to Montenegro’s former finance minister Milojko Spajić, the now-leader of the Europe Now party.
According to a June 17 report from a regional arm of Radio Free Europe, Kwon allegedly made contact with Spajić in a letter he sent to several Montenegrin officials in the days before the latest round of elections in the country.
“This is categorically denied and it is not true," said Kwon’s lawyers.
Spajić denied having ties to Kwon but their rumored financial connections were covered heavily by various news outlets in Montenegro.
Korean media reports that for years, Do Kwon had secretly been sponsoring a prominent Montenegrin politician using illegal funds. Two days ago, a Montenegro high court approved Do Kwon's bail request again, allowing for his release from prison.
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