Successfully defended clients against the claim for USD 13.7 million in damages

The Dispute Resolution lawyers successfully defended clients against the claim for USD 13.7 million in damages.

The opponent has filed a lawsuit for USD 13.7 million in damages against our clients. The claim alleged that the plaintiff conducted an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017-2018, selling USD 13.7 million in tokens and that our client, a former CEO, allegedly misappropriated the funds and/or used them in the operations of another fintech company.

The Court of First Instance fully accepted our client’s position that the opponent did not prove either the fact that the ICO was carried out or the fact that the funds or the cryptocurrency were collected, and therefore dismissed the claim in its entirety. The Court also rejected as unsubstantiated the allegations of the use of the ICO proceeds in the activities of another fintech company. Having assessed the latter company’s financing documents, its financial statements and the strict legal framework applicable to it, the Court found that no use was made of any of the funds raised in the ICO in the activities of that company.

Our team contributed to the establishment of an important precedent in deciding whether an ICO had been carried out and whether the funds raised in the ICO had been used in the activities of another legal entity. The rules of procedure and assessment of evidence developed in this case with our assistance will also be relevant in subsequent legal disputes concerning the liability of a director.

In this litigation, we represented the former CEO of our opponent and a financial services company accused of benefiting from the proceeds of a disputed ICO.