In a judgment made public on 24 February 2022, the English High Court has granted what is thought to be the first ever third-party debt order in proceedings arising from cryptocurrency fraud.
Sitting in the High Court Business and Property Division, Master David Cook made final an interim third-party debt order against Payward, Inc, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange and bank, Kraken.
The judgment is the latest in the Ion Science and Duncan Johns v Persons Unknown and Ors proceedings, which arise out of claims by an English company and its sole director that they were fraudulently induced into investing in a bogus Initial Coin Offering ("ICO") called Oileum.
Comment
The world of asset tracing and enforcement is developing at lightning speed, and it is becoming ever clearer that the veil of anonymity which has long been associated with digital assets and currency is now beginning to slip.