The 31-year-old was detained in Podgorica along with Hon Chang Joon while trying to fly to Dubai using falsified Costa Rican traveling documents, Montenegro’s Interior Ministry said in a statement Thursday. Kwon’s whereabouts have been the source of constant speculation since September, when authorities in his native South Korea issued a warrant for his arrest on allegations including breaches of capital-markets law. The country has stripped him of his passport and said he’s the subject of an Interpol red notice.
Exactly what sparked the implosion of Kwon’s project remains a mystery. US authorities were investigating possible links to Bankman-Fried, whose FTX exchange and trading house Alameda Research spiraled into bankruptcy in November.