Hong Kong JPEX cryptocurrency scandal: pair launch first civil claims in bid to recover HK$5.5 million

Itemizing JPEX Crypto Asset Platform because the first defendant and Internet 3.0 Technical Assist – an affiliated firm – because the second, the pair are additionally suing “any individuals who carried out or assisted in the scheme”.

Three others, who seem as “holder of pockets tackle” for 3 respective accounts on the JPEX platform, are additionally named as defendants in the authorized doc.

Felix Chiu King-yin, normal supervisor of Coingaroo, a cryptocurrency trade in Hong Kong with ties to JPEX, is called as a defendant.

Chan alleges that Chiu acquired HK$1,850,000 (US$237,179) from her, and that the cash was partly transformed into 195, 499 USDT, a cryptocurrency also referred to as Tether, in a JPEX pockets.

The plaintiffs mentioned Chan individually made a number of deposits value 247,498 USDT to two JPEX wallets between July and August final 12 months.

They discovered the belongings have been moved away “inside 5 minutes after every of the deposits was made”, and subsequently transferred to “many different wallets of unknown holders” earlier than they regarded into their accounts on September 14 final 12 months.

On high of that, they’re additionally in search of one other 226,012 USDT, mentioned to be crypto belongings that appeared in the plaintiffs’ JPEX accounts earlier than being transformed to different cryptocurrencies with out authorisation.

The plaintiffs are asking the court docket to make an order to hint the misplaced funds and grant an injunction to transfer the cryptocurrency to different platforms.

Police launched an investigation into JPEX final September after the Safety and Futures Fee recognized it as an unlicensed digital asset buying and selling platform.

As of April, police had acquired 2,265 complaints from alleged victims, and the variety of folks arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud stood at 11.

Lam, amongst different social media influencers who helped promote JPEX, was arrested by the police power’s industrial crime bureau final September however launched quickly after.

Expertise legislation specialist Joshua Chu Kiu-wah, who’s dealing with the pair’s claims, mentioned the court docket’s findings and observations in the civil case may probably have an effect on the forthcoming prison proceedings.

“Notably, the findings from the civil proceedings might probably bolster the parallel prison investigation in opposition to the suspects, underscoring the significance of this multifaceted authorized technique for the victims,” he mentioned.

He inspired folks to take into account pursuing civil proceedings to recover their misplaced belongings whereas ready for outcomes from the power’s investigation, as police “are unable to return any seized funds with out a court docket order from the civil case”.