While Do Kwon’s extradition has yet to be decided in Montenegro, Terraform Labs founder Lee’s wife has won a major legal victory against the South Korean state. The court ruled that some real estate shares and subscription rights in Officetel, previously seized in Lee’s name, should not be subject to state confiscation, local news agency Naver reported. Reported Exclusively today.
Du Kwan’s wife wins big
Judge Joo Chae-kwang of the 12th Civil Circuit issued his ruling on June 19, ruling that the assets were Ms. Lee’s separate property, acquired independently during her marriage. The assets in question include a multi-use apartment in Seongsu-dong and subscription rights to an officetel in Nonhyeon-dong, which are collectively valued at about 233.3 billion won (about $183 million).
The court confirmed that the funds used for these investments came from Ms. Lee’s profits and investments in cryptocurrencies, including large transactions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. These funds were managed through her personal wallets, with no clear evidence that Du Kuan had control over these assets.
“The state does not allow the confiscation of real estate located in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, and the subscription rights to Officeel and subscription price refund claims located in Nonhyeon-dong based on the court’s decision to maintain the collection against Kwon,” the ruling read. “The seizure and its implementation shall remain in effect until this decision is finally rendered.”
This ruling is particularly noteworthy because it challenges the State’s previous assumption that the assets were acquired by Du Kwan and registered in Ms. Lee’s name only to conceal potential assets. The court explained: “If the State assumes that Mr. Kwan acquired the shares of this property in his wife’s name in order to conceal criminal proceeds, it is difficult to understand why he acquired only a 10% stake in Ms. Lee’s name, and not the entire stake or at least a 50% stake.”
Furthermore, the court rejected the state’s claims that the crypto assets used in these purchases were owned by Du Quan. The court concluded that “the burden of proof regarding the fact that virtual assets, such as Bitcoin, which could be considered the ultimate source of funds for the purchase of the real estate interest, are owned by Quan, makes it difficult to conclude that the owner of the virtual assets or the source of funds for their purchase is Quan.”
The ruling comes amid ongoing legal proceedings involving Do Kwon himself, who is currently being held in Montenegro awaiting decisions on whether to extradite him to the United States or South Korea. As Bitcoinist reported, the Montenegrin Supreme Court overturned Do Kwon’s extradition to South Korea in early April and sent the case back to the Supreme Court in Podgorica.
The South Korean state filed an appeal against the ruling on July 1, indicating that legal discussions surrounding assets linked to the Doo Kwon family are set to continue.
At the time of publishing this report, Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) was trading at $0.00007253.
Featured image created using DALL E, chart from TradingView.com
