Montenegrin PM found as early investor in Terraform Labs

Milojko Spajic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, was among the early investors in Terraform Labs, the company founded by Kwon Do-hyung, who is currently incarcerated and a central figure in the collapse of the cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna. Vijesti, a leading Montenegrin daily newspaper, reported this connection, raising questions about whether this relationship could impact Kwon's ongoing extradition trial.

Evidence submitted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York lists a total of 81 early investors in Terraform Labs from its founding in April 2018 until the summer of 2021. Spajic is listed as the 16th investor, having purchased 750,000 Luna coins at 10 cents each on April 17, 2018, as an individual investor.

In April 2022, Luna's value soared to $119 per coin before crashing to virtually nothing within a month. If Spajic had sold his 750,000 Luna coins at the peak, he could have theoretically made a profit of $90 million.

Vijesti reported that inquiries to the prime minister's office regarding the amount of Luna tokens Spajic held just before the collapse returned unanswered. However, Minister of Justice Andrej Milovic, a close associate of Spajic, stated that "Prime Minister Spajic is also a victim of fraud."

Suspicion of ties between Spajic and Kwon has persisted for some time. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Kwon met with Spajic in Serbia in late 2022 while Kwon was on Interpol's red list. Local media have also reported allegations that Kwon provided Spajic with illegal political funding before Montenegro's general election in June last year.

Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March last year for using a fake passport and has been in custody since then. He faces charges from both South Korean and U.S. law enforcement authorities. His extradition to the United States is pending, with Justice Minister Milovic stating that he alone has the authority to decide whether Kwon will be sent to South Korea or the United States. Kwon has preferred to be deported to South Korea, where sentences for financial crimes are generally less severe.


김보라 기자 purple@donga.com