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Author: Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Ava Benny-Morrison, Bloomberg; Compiled by: Tao Zhu, Bitchain Vision
U.S. court documents show thatMontenegro Prime Minister Milojko Spajic personally invested in the company’s cryptocurrency several years before the collapse of Terraform Labs Pte.
This discovery raises questions about why the company’s founder Do Kwon chose this small Balkan country when he tried to evade prosecution.In March 2023, he was imprisoned in Montenegro for a fake passport and has been facing extradition requests from the United States and South Korea.
Spajic, a 36-year-old former banker and pro-Western politician, has previously said he made the investment through Singaporean firm Das Capital SG, which he is a partner.
According to the Montenegro independent newspaper Vijesti, which first revealed the news, Milojko’s assets had grown to nearly $90 million at some point.Emails and phone calls sent to the Podgorica cabinet on Wednesday and Thursday were not responded.The newspaper said Spajic also declined to comment on Vijesti.
The leak occurred in NATO member states and EU candidates, with prime ministers leading a fragile ruling coalition since October last year.The opposition has asked Spajic to resign.
The U.S. lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon details the prime minister’s investments before taking office.In a letter analyzing Terraform’s crypto asset contracts submitted by SEC accountants, Spajic was identified as an early stage investor in April 2018.
Kwon faces prosecutions related to the 2022 slump in TerraUSD stablecoin value of $40 billion.The wealthy cryptocurrency company and Kwon individual were found to be responsible for fraud following a civil trial in New York in April.Terraform has agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle with the SEC.
Spajic’s LinkedIn page lists him as Milojko Mickey Spajic, showing that he worked as a credit analyst and investor in Singapore between 2014 and 2020.He returned to Montenegro at the end of 2020 to serve as Finance Minister in the fall of the government in February 2022.
Kwon has served his sentence locally and has been locked up in an illegal foreigner shelter since March.Montenegro’s attorney general favors the extradition of the 32-year-old man to the United States, and the court supports his desire to extradite him back to his native South Korea.After many rulings, Kwon’s fate is now in the hands of the High Court again.
