Court freezes $1.14B in failed Singapore-based crypto fund’s assets

Representations of cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, DogeCoin, Ripple, Litecoin are placed on PC motherboard in this illustration taken, June 29, 2021. Photo by Reuters

Three Arrows Capital filed for bankruptcy last year when its fortunes collapsed after a massive sell-off in assets it had bet on as prices nosedived in crypto markets.

The freeze order was issued Monday by a court in the British Virgin Islands against co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies and Davies’ wife Kelly Chen, liquidators Teneo said in a statement.

The order “prevents the three named individuals dealing with their assets (including transferring or selling them) up to a value of US$1.144 billion,” the statement said.

“It also sends a clear signal to counterparties and affiliates of the Founders of Three Arrows as to their legal obligations and risks,” the statement added.

The inclusion of Davies’ wife in the order “marks a further expansion of efforts by the liquidators” to recover the assets, it said.

Zhu was arrested in late September while trying to get a flight out of Singapore and is serving a four-month imprisonment.

The whereabouts of Davies and his wife are currently not known. All three are Singapore citizens.

Singapore’s monetary authority had banned Zhu and Davies from conducting regulated investment activity in the country for nine years each.

The liquidator, ordered to preside over the bankruptcy by a court in the British Virgin Islands, is attempting to recover the assets of Three Arrows and bring returns to its creditors after the company failed.

However, it has accused Zhu and Davies of not cooperating with the effort to return funds and failing to voluntarily provide information.