Roman Kazimierz Ziemian, co-founder of the FutureNet Ponzi scheme, has been arrested for a second time.

Authorities in Montenegro announced Ziemian’s arrest on August 18th.

NCB Interpol Podgorica officers arrested Zimian on August 17 in the Master Quarter, a newly built residential block in Podgorica, where he was hiding under a false identity.

After his identity was confirmed with foreign partners, searches were carried out at the location where the arrested person was staying.

Ziemian (right) was wanted on international arrest warrants issued by South Korea and Poland.

It is unclear which country Montenegro will extradite Ziemian to. Local media is drawing comparisons between Ziemian and Terra’s Do Kwon.

In Podgorica, in March 2023, Do Kwon, who is also suspected of international crypto fraud, was arrested at the Podgorica airport.

He is wanted by the United States and South Korea.

The extradition procedure lasts more than a year. Courts in Montenegro have so far ruled seven times conflictingly on the requests of two states for extradition.

The backstory behind Zieman’s arrest pertains to his co-founding of FutureNet, a collapsed MLM crypto Ponzi scheme.

Ziemian is thought to have fled back to Dubai, after which it appears he relocated to Montenegro on false identity papers.

[Ziemian] is suspected of criminal acts of economic crime, namely, a serious pattern of fraud on a larger scale, money laundering, theft and violation of the law, for which the sentence of life imprisonment is prescribed in South Korea.

Through FutureNet, South Korean authorities have accused Ziemian and Morgenstern of stealing over 160 billion South Korean won (~$117 million USD).

At a hearing held after Ziemian’s arrest, lawyers argued Ziemian couldn’t have defrauded South Koreans because he’s “never been to South Korea”.

Ziemian’s lawyers don’t appear to have addressed why Ziemian was in Montenegro on false identity papers.

While living illegally in Montenegro, Ziemian abused US copyright law to suppress BehindMLM’s reporting on his fraudulent conduct.

Following a High Court hearing, Ziemian has been remanded to custody pending the outcome of extradition proceedings. Ziemian has appealed the decision.

Hopefully this time Ziemian’s arrest sticks and Montenegro takes what happened in Italy into account.