"Greenstone Digital Asset Platform" (JPEX) is suspected of violating regulations in its promotion and operation in Hong Kong. In the first civil claim case, two victims filed a lawsuit in the District Court against JPEX Group and seven other defendants, seeking 240,000 Tether or HK$1.85 million. One of the defendants, JPEX's registered company in Hong Kong, was absent from the hearing last month. Judge Chow Siu-man issued a verdict yesterday, stating that the company, as an operator, held assets and constituted an express trust but violated its obligations. In particular, the case of the first plaintiff was obviously strong, so the company was ordered to pay compensation upon the application of the two.
The two plaintiffs are Chan Wing Yan (transliterated as Chan Wing Yan) and Lee Sung Him Herbert (transliterated as Lee Chenqian). This time, only the lawsuit between the plaintiff and the second defendant, WEB3.0 TECHNICAL SUPPORT LIMITED, is handled.
According to the statement of claim, the first defendant, who is a registered company in Australia under JPEX, and the second defendant operated the JPEX virtual asset service and electronic platform. The plaintiff personally or in his name opened an account on the platform and deposited virtual currency. The plaintiff asked the court to rule that the second defendant had breached good faith and/or must reorganize and repay debts.
The judge said that in many jurisdictions that exercise common law, including Hong Kong, the court accepts that cryptocurrencies are "property" and can form a trust. The judge agreed that the first two defendants operated a cryptocurrency trading platform, which recorded the flow of currency between accounts, and there were trustee income and terms of agreement between the parties. Therefore, the second defendant, as a trustee, breached his duty and transferred assets without authorization. The judge believed that the court must grant claim relief to fulfill justice and ordered the second defendant to pay legal costs of 120,000 yuan. (Ming Pao)