Singapore

Criminal actions against six foreign nationals, a Swiss financial services firm, and a client regarding an alleged offshore tax evasion scheme known as the "Singapore Solution" involving entities in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Panama, Singapore, and Switzerland have been unsealed at federal court in New York.

Notice of Removal, including a copy of the complaint, in Chardan Capital Markets LLC, of New York v. Diginex Limited, a cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform described in the complaint as "a Singapore company whose principal place of business is in Hong Kong, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in Singapore by William Honoris, as the Foreign Representative of JGC Ventures Pte. Ltd. and Modernland Overseas Pte. Ltd., both of Singapore and part of "one of Indonesia’s largest and most prominent property developers, with various high-profile projects", filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment alleging "a fraudulent scheme referred to by the conspirators as the 'Singapore Solution'" involving entities in the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Singapore, and Switzerland in USA v. Evo Bechtiger, Bernhard Lampert, Peter Rüegg, Roderic Sage, Rolf Schnellmann, Daniel Wächli, and Allied Finance Trust AG, described as "a financial services company in Zurich", at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging securities fraud in GIC Private Limited, which is "wholly-owned by the Government of Singapore" v. Celgene Corporation, Scott A. Smith, Terrie Curran, and Philippe Martin at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Application by China Medical Technologies Inc. (in Liquidation), described as a Cayman Islands-domiciled "holding company of a group of companies incorporated in Hong Kong, Mainland China, the British Virgin Islands and Singapore", and CMED Technologies Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands, to take discovery from KPMG LLP for use in legal prceddings in Hong Kong, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Amended Judgment for $97 million in Zhang Rui Kang, of Singapore, and Le Huan-Hsin, of China v. Tunghsu Venus Holdings Limited, of the British Virgin Islands, and Tunghsu Group Co. Ltd., of China, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

Public Statement by Jersey Financial Services Commission that it has "concluded" that Hawksford Trust Company Jersey Limited "breached certain principles" of the Financial Services (Trust Company Business (Assets - Customer Money)) (Jersey) Order 2000 and Code of Practice for Trust Company Business. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert in the Jersey corporate register showed that Hawksford Trust Company Jersey Limited was incorporated in Jersey on August 8th, 1963 and, in its 2020 annual return, signed by director Darren Kelland, its sole shareholder was identified as Hawksford Group Holdings Limited, which was incorporated in Jersey on May 15th, 2017 and, in its 2020 annual return, its sole shareholder was identified as Hawksford Holdings Limited, which was incorporated in Jersey on August 12th, 2008 and, in its 2020 annual return, its shareholders were identified as Dunedin Buyout Fund II LP, a private equity fund in Scotland; Dunedin (SAPE) GP Nominees Limited, acting as nominee for Equity Harvest Fund LP, of Scotland; Michael Edmund Powell, Louis Philip Chetwynd Taylor, James Webster Howe, Boota Singh Kular, Stephen David John Spybey, all of Jersey; Jacqueline Anne Low, of Singapore; Matthew Andrew Wilkinson, Daniel Richard Hainsworth, Gerardus Jan Michel van Leeuwen, Stephen Spybey and Gerardus van Leeuwen, as Trustees of the Hawksford Holdings Limited EBTl Darren Thomas Kelland, all of Jersey; Stefano Passarello, of Hong Kong; Dario Acconci, of Singapore; Marta Giordano, of Hong Kong; Giacomo Stoppa, of Hong Kong; Peter Zhu, of China, and Aldford Street Nominees Limited, of England.

Petition for Court Sanction of a Scheme of Arrangement in the matter of Pearl Holding III Limited, which "acts as an intermediate holding company with its direct and indirect subsidiaries being located in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, Thailand, Malaysia and the PRC", at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Application by Alix AM Pte Ltd., of Singapore, to take discovery from EFG International AG, of Miami, Florida, for use in legal proceedings in the British Virgin Islands that it has filed against Agriculture Investment Group Corp. and 13 other defendants, including those in the Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Monaco, and Uruguay, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Retired Olympic speed skating champion Apolo Ohno and companies operating from Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malta, and Singapore that he allegedly founded are being sued in California for an alleged $50 million crypto fraud.

Complaint alleging theft, misappropriation, and securities fraud regarding the raising of $50 million "from investors based around the world, including within the United States" from the sale of "digital tokens" that were "neither registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor qualified for any exemption from registration with the SEC, thereby depriving investors of the benefit of the disclosures required by the federal securities laws" in Brian Kang, Skyblock LLC, Mid-Wilshire Consulting LLC, Prasad Hurra, David Kim, Blue Rock Group, Artemio Verduzo, David Kwon, and Young Jae Kwon v. Hybrid Trade Limited, described as operating from addresses in Hong Kong, Malta, and Singapore; Asia Digital Asset Exchange, described as operating from an address in Cyprus; Allysian Sciences, Apolo Ohno, a former Olympic speed skating champion; Rod Jao, Eugenio Pugliese, and Henry Liu at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Application by FourWorld Event Opportunities LP and Genesis Emerging Markets Investment Company to take discovery from General Atlantic LLC, General Atlantic Service Company, L.P., GASF Interholdco Ltd., General Atlantic Partners (Bermuda) III, LP, General Atlantic Partners (Bermuda) IV LP, Inc., GAP Coinvestments CDA LP, GAP Coinvestments III LLC, GAP Coinvestments IV LLC, GAP Coinvestments V LLC, GAP (Bermuda) Ltd., General Atlantic GenPar (Bermuda) LP, General Atlantic Singapore Fund Pte. Ltd., General Atlantic Singapore 58 Pte. Ltd., and General Atlantic Singapore 58TP Pte. Ltd., Warburg Pincus LLC, Warburg Pincus China-Southeast Asia II (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus China-Southeast Asia II-E (Cayman) LP, WP China-Southeast Asia II Partners (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus China-Southeast Asia II Partners LP, Warburg Pincus (Callisto) Global Growth (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus (Europa) Global Growth (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus Global Growth-B (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus Global Growth-E (Cayman) LP, WP Global Growth Partners (Cayman) LP, Warburg Pincus Global Growth Partners (Cayman) LP, and Polarite Gem Holdings Group, Ltd. for use in "an appraisal proceeding filed in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands" at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging "Offering Materials were inaccurate and misleading" and "contained untrue statements of material facts" in Donald Ramsey v. Coinbase Global Inc., of Delaware, described as "the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States"; Brian Armstrong, Alesia J. Haas, Jennifer N. Jones, Surojit Chatterjee, Paul Grewal, Marc L. Andreessen, Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III, Kathryn Haun, Kelly Kramer, Gokul Rajaram, Fred Wilson, AH Capital Management LLC, Paradigm Fund LP, Ribbit Management Company LLC, Tiger Global Management LLC, Tiger Global Management LLC, Union Square Ventures LLC, and Viserion Investment Pte Ltd., of Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Director Report for Reebonz Holding Limited, obtained from the Cayman Islands General Registry on July 16, 2021.

Stop Notice by Dorset Limited, of the Marshall Islands, regarding shares in Trax Ltd., of the Cayman Islands, registered to Panagiotis Triantafyllidis, filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Stop Notice by ENG LLC, of Delaware, regarding shares in Trax Ltd., of the Cayman Islands, registered to Topmost Access Limited and Tron LP, filed at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Judgment for $4.8 million in Alto Opportunity Master Fund, SPC-Segregated Master Portfolio B, of the Cayman Islands v. Reebonz Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands company based in Singapore, at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. Editor's Note: Research by OffshoreAlert at the Cayman Islands General Registry showed that the directors of Reebonz Holding Limited, which appears to be the correct name for the company identified throughout the litigation, even in contracts signed by its own representatives, as "Reebonz Holdings Limited", were identified as Arthur Chua, Charles Goh, Roderick Perry, and Samuel Lim Kok Eng.

Application by Makhpal Karibzhanova, described as "a citizen of Kazakhstan and is the former wife of a wealthy and politically-connected Kazakh businessman, Aidan Karibzhanov" whose "wealth is held in offshore structures and through nominee ownership around the world, making it necessary to gather evidence from a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore, as well as Kazakhstan and a number of offshore jurisdictions", including the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and Singapore, to take discovery from Mubadala Fund, Extell Developrnent, Edward Mermelstein, One and Only Realty, Eduard Ogai, Credit Suisse, American Express and others for use in legal proceedings in Kazakhstan, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Application by Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft, of Germany, to take discovery from the Master of NYK Delphinus, described as "a Liberian-flagged vessel time chartered to NYK Line, a Japanese company, and sub-time chartered to Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean company", for use in legal proceedings in Germany "for claims related to lost or damaged cargo", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Statement of Allegations alleging unregistered securities activity involving cryptocurrencies in the Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission v. Bybit Fintech Limited, described as a British Virgin Islands-domiciled "online crypto asset trading platform", and which appears to be based in Singapore, before the Ontario Securities Commission.

The Enforcement Branch of the Ontario Securities Commission is seeking fines and other penalties against British Virgin Islands-domiciled, Singapore-based cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bybit for operating "contrary to the public interest".

Forfeiture Complaint regarding $35 million associated with alleged tax evasion activity by "Swiss Life Holding AG, a Swiss insurance holding company, and three of its subsidiaries, Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG, Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., and Swiss Life (Luxembourg) S.A." in USA v. $35 Million at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Winding Up Petition in the matter of KrisEnergy Ltd., described as "an upstream oil and gas company whose principal business activity is acting as the holding company of an international group of companies with operating subsidiaries variously incorporated in Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Thailand, Jersey, the Netherlands, the British Virgin Islands, Cambodia and Bermuda" whose estimated net insolvency is more than $500 million, at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Originating Application in Zica S.A., of Switzerland v. Sumner Group Recruitment Limited at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of Foreign Main Proceedings in Indonesia and Singapore by Geoffrey Simms, as the Foreign Representative of PT Sri Rejeki Isman Tbk, PT Sinar Pantja Djaja, PT Bitratex Industries, PT Primayudha Mandirijaya, all of Indonesia; Golden Legacy Pte Ltd., and Golden Mountain Textile and Trading Pte Ltd., both of Singapore, filed at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Statement of Allegations in the matter of Mek Global Limited, of the Seychelles, and PhoenixFin Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, collectively doing business as KuCoin, described as "an online crypto asset trading platform", before the Ontario Securities Commission.

Ruling denying summary judgment against Crown Global Life Insurance and granting summary judgment for $1.7 million against the other defendants regarding investments in the Mauritius-based Belvedere Management Group in Thomas Doctoroff, of New York, USA v. Crown Global Life Insurance Ltd., of Bermuda; Paul Gambles, of Thailand; MBMG Investment Advisory Company Ltd., of Thailand; MBMG Group Singapore Pte, of Singapore; MBMG International Custodians Ltd., of the British Virgin Islands; MBMG Asset Management Limited, of Mauritius, and Garmor Asset Management Ltd., of Mauritius, at Bermuda Supreme Court.

Winding Up Petition in Chong Chin and Yai Sze Ling, both of Hong Kong v. Guoan International Limited at the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.

Claim Form in SIMEC Energy Pte Limited, of Singapore v. TransAsia Private Capital Limited, Cosimo Borrelli, and Kent McParland at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Fixed Date Claim Form in the matter of Pinrise International Limited at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Complaint alleging a cannabis-based investment fraud in Wilhelmus Johannes van Opzeeland, a citizen of the Netherlands residing in Singapore; Qi Guan, a citizen of China residing in England, and Mindaugas Montvilas, a citizen and resident of Lithuania v. Cannafornia Holdings Inc. and Paul King at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Deferred Prosecution Agreement, with exhibits that include a Criminal Information, Statement of Facts, and Forfeiture Complaint, in USA v. Swiss Life Holding AG, of Switzerland; Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG, of Liechtenstein; Swiss Life (Luxembourg) SA, of Luxembourg, and Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, who agreed to pay $77 million to settle a criminal charge of what the USA described in an accompanying news release as "conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to conceal from the Internal Revenue Service more than $1.452 billion in offshore insurance policies, including more than 1,600 insurance wrapper policies, and related policy investment accounts in banks around the world and the income generated in these accounts", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Information alleging conspiracy to defraud the United States in USA v. Swiss Life Holding AG, of Switzerland; Swiss Life (Liechtenstein) AG, of Liechtenstein; Swiss Life (Luxembourg) SA, of Luxembourg, and Swiss Life (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by Makhpal Karibzhanova, who "is a citizen of Kazakhstan and is the former wife of a wealthy and politically-connected Kazakh businessman, Aidan Karibzhanov", for an order of judicial assistance "to obtain testimony and documentary evidence to assist in discovery for use in prospective Kazakhstan civil proceedings" involving her former husband, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Fixed Date Claim Form regarding Faith Point Holdings Limited in Frederic Jacques de Bure, of Singapore v. Registrar of Corporate Affairs at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Complaint alleging "significant losses" suffered by a cryptocurrency trader "due to persistent software flaws" in a "Singapore-based cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform" in Ryan Akky, of California v. Phemex Financial Pte Ltd. and Phemex Financial Pte Ltd., both of Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Ex Parte Application by Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft, of Germany, to take discovery from the Master of M/V ONE APUS, a "Japanese-flagged containership" that "was en route from Yantian, China to Long Beach, California when something went wrong and the ship lost at least 843 containers overboard", for use in legal proceedings in Germany, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Public Notice by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission that it imposed a fine of £140,000 on Standard Chartered Trust (Guernsey) Limited for regulatory breaches.

Complaint in Erin F. Murray, as Executrix and Personal Representative of the Estate of Timothy M. Murray v. AET Inc. Ltd., of Bermuda, and MV Eagle Turin, described as a "Singapore flagged crude oil tank vessel", at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Petition to Confirm Arbitral Awards in Hong Kong and Singapore totaling $142 million in La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Company Limited and La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Group Holdings Limited, both of the Cayman Islands v. Zhang Lan, described as a citizen and resident of China; Grand Lan Holding Group (BVI) Limited, of the British Virgin Islands; Qiao Jiang Lan Development Limited, formerly South Beauty Development Limited, of the British Virgin Islands, and Metro Joy International LLC, of New York, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ex Parte Application by HMM Co. Ltd., of South Korea, to take discovery from Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd., of Singapore; Chidori Ship Holding LLC, Jessica Ship Holding SA, of Panama, and NYK Shipmanagement Pte. Ltd., of Singapore, for use in legal proceedings in South Korea and a London Maritime Arbitrators Association tribunal in England involving "the collapse and subsequent loss overboard of approximately 1,816 on-deck containers aboard the container ship M/V ONE APUS", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Ex Parte Application by Hapag-Lloyd Aktiengesellschaft, of Germany, to take discovery from the Master, Chief Officer, Officer of the Watch, Chief Engineer, and Second Engineer of M/V ONE APUS, a "Japanese-flagged containership" that "was en route from Yantian, China to Long Beach, California when something went wrong and the ship lost at least 843 containers overboard", for use in legal proceedings in Germany, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Chapter 11 Petition by Greensill Capital Inc., a Delaware-domiciled "financial services company" that "arranged factoring and reverse factoring programs for clients globally" and which is directly owned by Greensill Capital Management (UK) Limited, of the United Kingdom, and indirectly owned by Greensill Capital Pty Limited, of Australia, and is part of a group that includes companies in Australia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Germany, India, Isle of Man, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom, at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Letter on behalf of Arthur Hayes regarding his surrender and bail in USA v. Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the USA residing in Singapore, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he was indicted for alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act regarding a "cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform" known as BitMEX.

Complaint alleging fraud in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Shamoon Omer Rafiq, a.k.a. Omer Rafiq, a.k.a. Omar Rafiq, described as a citizen of the Netherlands who "until at least recently, resided in Singapore" and is "a recidivist securities fraudster", at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Application by Sukhbaatar Batbold, described as "a former Prime Minister of Mongolia (from 2009-2012) and a current member of the Mongolian Great Khural (Parliament", to take discovery from K2 Intelligence, a.k.a. K2 Integrity, described as a "New York-based investigative firm", for use in "proceedings in Mongolia, the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Republic of Singapore, and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China" involving "allegations that Mr. Batbold engaged in official corruption and expropriated Mongolian government property through a network of his proxies", filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Trustee's Renewed Ex-Parte Motion for Substantive Consolidation of Debtors Only in re: Providence Financial Investments Inc. and Providence Fixed Income Fund LLC at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging fraud involving cryptocurrencies in Rakesh Khatri, a citizen of the United States, individually and as assignee of Reshma Khatri, Abishek Raja, Amit Kushwaha, Anchit Singh, Arvind Singh Bajetha, Ashish Lal, Ashitosh Sampat Raje, Ashok Kumar, Bhagyesh Hanumante, Chakresh Jain, Dharmender Shera, Gagan Deep Joshi, Gaurav Chhabra, Girija Raman, Karthik Raman, Lalit Kumar, Lokesh Sharma, Mohamed Haneefa Kottayil, Mohit Malhotra, Mukesh Gupta, Navneet Bhalla, Nikhil Jadhav, Pritpal Singh, Raghavendra R. Athani, Sachin Chavhan, Sanchit Malik, Saurab Wadhera, Shyam Singh, Siddhant Jain, Vikash Bhagat, Yash Jain, Ismail Nadukkandyil, Aarjav Jain, Siddharth Jain, Sanjay Jain, Mayank Jain, Vivek Tiwari, Malthesha P, Shubham Gupta, Sandeep Grewal, Nitin Koshti, Abishek Chauhan, Amar Singh Chandel, Priyavardhini Venkatram, Ajay Singh, Rajbir, Moumita Das, Rajesh Mehra, P.C. Mahajan, Pooja Ahirwar, Albert Ahirwar, Rani Singh, Shyam Lal, Anjan Roy, Arvinder Pal Singh, Vipin Sahney, Arpit Jain, Mukul Gupta, Aman Singhal, Brijesh Soni, Mahesh Vittal Yadav, Aman Paharia, Sandeep Bhalla, Sanjay Ahlawat, Atul Bhalla, Deepak Kumar, Balkrishna Baburao Raje, Girija Silver, Gaurav Gupta, Skalyan, and Deepak Shukla, all citizens of India v. VariableTech Private Limited, d.b.a. Gain Bitcoin, of Singapore; Amaze Mining and Blockchain Research Ltd., of Hong Kong; GBMiners, Mineral Mining Limited Company, described as "a company located in the United Arab Emirates"; Sun & Sand Mining & Minerals Resource (UK) Limited, described as "a company located in England"; Coin Bank-Safe Bitcoin Wallet, ZebPay Exchange, a.k.a. Zebay, a.k.a. Zeb Pay, described as "a cryptocurrency exchange, virtual wallet, and/or wallet provider headquartered in Singapore with a registered office in Australia"; Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, and Hemant Bhope at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana.

Chapter 15 Petition for Recognition of a Foreign Main Proceeding in the Cayman Islands by Cosimo Borrelli and Mitchell Mansfield, as the Foreign Representatives of Huy Vietnam Group Limited (in Official Liquidation), whose Founder, Nhat Huy, "may have misappropriated approximately $59 million", at the U. S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.