English High Court grants first UK Summary Judgment to a foreign based victim of cryptocurrency fraud

Joanna Bailey of Giambrone & Partners LLP acts on behalf of foreign-based fraud victims to expand the jurisdiction of the English Courts in transnational cryptocurrency fraud recoveries.

Click here to read the Judgment

Celso De Azevedo, of Enterprise Chambers was again instructed by Giambrone & Partners to obtain the judgment related to a worldwide freezing order against a number of foreign fraudsters – Persons Unknown associated with IngfxGroup and/or INGFX and Suthep Chansudarat. Persons Unknown in connection with Coinbase exchange, Binance exchange and Huobi exchange. Persons Unknown in connection with Coinbase exchange, Binance exchange, OKX exchange and Huobi exchange. Also INGFX Limited. 

Our client was contacted on Facebook by Suthep Chansudaret, and after building up her confidence during a number of lengthy conversations, she was informed that she could make significant financial returns when investing in a scheme that he could direct her to.  She was induced to invest her money in a fraudulent scheme. She was further informed that she had to convert her fiat currency to cryptocurrency, using the Bitkub Thailand exchange, which she duly did.

Our client made a number of “trades” and was informed that she her trades were profitable. However, when she decided she did not wish to carry out any further trades she faced a series of demands involved fees and taxes that would have to be paid to facilitate withdrawal and she was further persuaded to continue trading. 

The situation continued until our client finally decided she wanted to access what she believed to be her profits and was met with excuses as to why this could not be immediately take place. Eventually she recognised that she had been duped and instructed Giambrone & Partners.

The High Court issued a Proprietary Injunction and a Non-Proprietary Freezing Injunction to secure the funds.  The proceedings were served by way of an non-fungible token ("NFT")  served through the blockchain which unerringly targets the wrongdoers, similarly to Giambrone & Partners' previous successful fraud litigation matter  D’Aloia v. (1) Persons Unknown (2) Binance Holdings Limited & Others.

Joanna Bailey,  head of the banking and fraud litigation department commented “The Courts are demonstrating that they will protect victims of this type of fraud, so frequently perpetrated abroad, and enable the recovery of money lost in this way in fraudulent investment schemes by preventing the wrongdoers placing assets beyond reach.” Joanna further mentioned, “the summary judgement gives the hope to victims of fraud that their funds can be restored.”

Giambrone & Partners' banking and financial litigation department leads the way in fighting investment fraud, including cryptocurrency fraud which has proved challenging to take on due to the anonymity of the fraudsters.

Joanna Bailey and her team frequently leads the litigation against financial institutions involved in cryptocurrency trading disputes, as well as Forex investment issues and regulatory investigations and has some considerable success in retrieving our clients' funds lost in fraud.

She has developed a range of strategies both to find the assets of the individuals perpetrating the fraudulent schemes and restore the funds to our clients. As well as recognising culpability in the organisations facilitating (but not associated with the fraud), by failing to undertake adequate due diligence.

Joanna led the first case in Europe where proceedings were served on Persons Unknown connected with two digital wallets over the blockchain by non-fungible token or ‘NFT’ in a cryptocurrency fraud. Following this ground-breaking case Joanna was named as Lawyer of the Week in the Financial Times.

If you believe you have been targeted by investment fraud and would like to know more contact us at clientservices@giambronelaw.com or please click here.