Do Kwon pleads not guilty to false passport charges in court and requests €400,000 bail

Do Kwon and Han Chang-joon have pled not guilty to charges in Montenegro today, where they have been accused of travelling on falsified documents.

Their lawyer Branko Anđelić requested bail for his clients and proposed they pay €400,000 each and would stay at his girlfriend’s apartment while their legal proceedings continue.

The Terraform Labs co-founder and his former chief financial officer were seen in public for the first time since late March and were questioned by a judge about their finances, which they both described as “average”.

When asked about his personal finances by Judge Ivana Becić, Kwon said: “Apart from an apartment in Seoul worth $3 million, I don’t own any other property. Most of the money I have is of fluctuating value, that is, in the form of ownership shares in companies that are not listed on the stock market and whose value is not available to the public,” reported Vijesti’s Miljana Dašić, who was present for the hearing.

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He added that he did not want to go into further details given the media presence in court.

“I will not hide, I agree to security measures, I will show up when requested,” Bloomberg reported Kwon saying.

Montenegrin Prosecutor Haris Šabotić refuted the notion that Kwon and Han could be trusted to stay in the country under house arrest, arguing they have “zero interest” in staying put in and that the proposed figure for bail was not in proportion to their wealth.

Just yesterday a South Korean court approved a request from authorities to freeze $176 million worth of Kwon’s domestic assets. These include his Seoul residence, cars, and cryptocurrencies in various exchanges, a spokesperson for the Seoul prosecutors’ office Kim Hee-kyung confirmed to Forkast via text message.

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Kwon and Han were arrested on March 23 at Podgorica airport when trying to board a private jet bound for Dubai. According to local police, the pair were stopped by a border guard who was suspicious of their travel documents. They face charges of travelling on false Costa Rican passports. Belgian travel documents were uncovered in their bags when searched by police.

The arrest marked an end to a six-month manhunt across the Balkans, after South Korean authorities tipped off Serbian police that the pair had entered the country in September. Montenegrin police said the pair are thought to have entered Montenegro 10 days before they were caught.

DL News revealed last month that Han had bought a luxury apartment in Belgrade while he was on the run with Kwon and wanted by Interpol — a red notice arrest warrant was issued for the pair in September.

NOW READ: Do Kwon associate Han bought $2.2m flat in Belgrade during manhunt

Han acknowledged the property when the judge asked him about his financial situation.

“Since October, I have owned an apartment in Belgrade for which I paid close to €2 million, and I also own an apartment in Seoul, the value of which I do not know. I do not know the exact amount of money at my disposal, but it is about $5 million,” Han said.

The judge did not say when she would decide on their application for bail, but set the next court date for June 16.