Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon arrested at Montenegro airport

March 23 (UPI) -- Do Kwon, the creator of the now-defunct Terra blockchain, has been arrested at an airport in Montenegro.

The founder of Terraform Labs was taken into custody by the Montenegrin police, Filip Adzic, Montenegro's minister of the interior, tweeted on Thursday.

Kwon has reportedly been at the center of several investigations for alleged fraud and tax evasion since the collapse of Terra nearly a year ago, CoinDesk reported. The cryptocurrency was discontinued in November.

"Montenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs," Adzic tweeted.

The arrest took place in Montenegro's capital city Podgorica on Thursday morning. Kwon was allegedly in possession of falsified documents at the time, TechCrunch reported.

There was initial hesitation about the identity of the person in custody but Korean news agency Yonhap reported that authorities have confirmed the suspect's passport name, age and country of birth are a match.

The stablecoin Terra was created in 2018. When it failed, an estimated $40 billion in cryptocurrency was lost, TechCrunch said.

Kwon's whereabouts had been difficult to track for international agencies in recent months, leading Interpol to reportedly place a "red notice" for any law enforcement agencies who may encounter him to detain him. Kwon meanwhile disputed claims that he was running or hiding from law enforcement.

"I am not 'on the run' or anything similar -- for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don't have anything to hide," Kwon tweeted in September.

In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Terraform and Kwon for allegedly defrauding investors in "crypto schemes."

"We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for a host of crypto asset securities, most notably for LUNA and Terra USD," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

"We also allege that they committed fraud by repeating false and misleading statements to build trust before causing devastating losses for investors."