Do Kwon registered a company in Serbia just three weeks after Interpol issued a Red Notice for him in September, DL News can reveal.
Official records obtained from the Serbian Business Registry show Kwon opened a company called “Codokoj22 d.o.o. Beograd” on October 12. The address listed is in the old town of the Serbian capital’s city centre.
It is not possible to search the Serbian Business Registry by the names of the individuals. Registry officials confirmed to DL News on Friday that two South Koreans named Do Kwon and Han Chang-Joon were listed with a company number.
Fraud charges
The sole owner of the new company is Do Hyuang Kwon – he is named as a director alongside Han Chang-Joon from Chai Corporation. Interpol issued a Red Notice for Kwon on Sept. 20.
The two men were arrested last Thursday at Podgorica Airport in Montenegro on a private jet bound for Dubai.
Both are wanted by South Korean prosecutors for fraud charges in connection with the collapse last May of Terra, the blockchain “ecosystem”, Kwon co-founded. Kwon is also facing eight counts of fraud-related charges in the US. Authorities in Singapore where Terra is based, are also probing the company.
Terra’s tokens LUNA and UST cratered last year and wiped out $60 billion in market value.
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A Montenegrin judge ruled on Friday that Do Kwon and Han will be detained for 30 days while they are investigated for attempting to leave the country with allegedly forged Costa Rican passports.
Han Chang-joon requested to give his statement in his native Korean, delaying the proceedings until a translator could be found. The nearest South Korean embassy is 200 miles away in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital.
Serbian company
Their Serbian company was registered with the main activity of “consultancy services,” which is widely used for a “general coverage” of the business. The company was established with 100 Serbian dinars in capital, which is less than a euro.
Do Kwon and Han Chang Joon used their Korean passports while registering a company with the Serbian Business Registry. The company is still active.
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DL News contacted the Serbian Business Registry to ask if its officials are aware Do Kwon was a person wanted by Interpol. The Serbian Business Registry said it didn’t have any information about the Interpol Red Notice.
The lawyers who helped him
The official document from the registry reveals that Do Kwon contracted a Serbian law firm called Gecic Law to represent him.
Serbian lawyer Ognjen Colic, a partner at Gecic Law Firm based in Belgrade, submitted the request for registration on behalf of Kwon and Han.
Colic declined to comment on the case, and said he didn’t know his client had been arrested and charged with document forgery in neighbouring Montenegro.
Colic declined to comment on the case, and said he didn’t know his client had been arrested and charged with document forgery in neighbouring Montenegro.
“I cannot comment on my client due to confidentiality agreements, but I can say that this client went through all our regular security checks that our conducts for every client, including the Interpol website and he is not on there – you can check it yourself now,” Colic said.
Do Kwon in hiding
Another lawyer from the same company, Milos Petakovic, signed the company statute on behalf of Do Kwon, the official document from Serbian Business Registry reveals.
When contacted by DL News and asked if he knew that his client had been wanted by Interpol when he registered the company he said: “I cannot comment without consulting my colleagues.”
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News of Do Kwon hiding in Serbia broke in December 2022 when South Korean officials reported that he arrived in Serbia via Dubai a couple of months earlier.
Serbian authorities have so far been quiet about the case, but the joint investigation between these two countries was confirmed when the South Korean prosecutors travelled to Serbia at the end of January to work together.
