Co-founders of 3AC Hit with $1B Worldwide Asset Freeze Amid Bankruptcy Saga
According to Cointelegraph: The financial turbulence surrounding embattled Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) continues. A court in the British Virgin Islands has recently frozen over $1.14 billion of assets owned by 3AC co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, marking another significant development in the firm's bankruptcy chronicles. This leading-edge legal action bars the 3AC co-founders from transferring or selling their assets and has also implicated assets owned by Davies' wife, Kelly Chen, according to Teneo, the firm's liquidator, and as reported by Bloomberg on December 21. Teneo, in its capacity as the appointed liquidator, placed the total debt owed to 3AC creditors at approximately $3.3 billion, following the fund’s disastrous 2022 collapse. The global freezing injunction coincides with allegations that the co-founders should bear responsibility for causing "3AC’s position to deteriorate by an amount equivalent to the value of the freezing orders sought." The liquidator further pointed out that Zhu and Davies are also subjects of a domestic asset freeze ordered by the Singapore Court. Established in 2012, 3AC was once counted among the largest global crypto hedge funds before it found itself unable to meet margin calls from its lenders and had to file for bankruptcy in the midst of the 2022 crypto bear market. Zhu was detained in Singapore in September 2023 for reportedly trying to depart the country following a local court sentencing him to a four-month prison term. Davies who, like Zhu, had also received an imprisonment order, is reportedly still at large. The Singaporean central bank has banned both co-founders from conducting regulated activities for the next nine years. The Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing of 3AC occurred in July last year after the downfall of stablecoin issuer Terra led to irreversible damages. Teneo is pursuing $1.3 billion, extending the freeze order to Ms. Kelly Chen as well, in a bid to maximize returns to creditors whose claims surpass $3 billion. Teneo indicated the order's objective is to prevent the founders and Chen from disposing of or dealing with their assets in a way that might hinder eventual enforcement by the liquidators.