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HCA 749/2022
[2024] HKCFI 2099
IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
ACTION NO. 749 OF 2022
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BETWEEN
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MANTRA DAO INC.
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1st Plaintiff
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RIODEFI INC.
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2nd Plaintiff
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and
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JOHN PATRICK MULLIN
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1st Defendant
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WILLIAM DONOVAN JOHN CORKIN
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2nd Defendant
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RODRIGO QUAN MIRANDA
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3rd Defendant
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JAYANT B RAMANAND
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4th Defendant
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MD LABS LIMITED
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5th Defendant
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TRITAURIAN CONSULTING LIMITED
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6th Defendant
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Before:
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Hon Lok J in Chambers
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Date of Hearing:
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25 April 2023
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Date of Decision:
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25 April 2023
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Date of Reasons for Decision:
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12 August 2024
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REASONS FOR DECISION
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1.
This is the Plaintiffs’ injunction summons dated 29 August 2022 as amended on 17 February 2023 (“the Summons”). In the substantive hearing on 25 April 2023, I made an order,
inter alia
, requiring the 1
st
to 4
th
Defendants to provide: (i) the Plaintiffs with the financial spreadsheets of the MANTRA DAO project (“the Project”) in a certain format from 1 January 2021 onwards; (ii) no more than 3 of the Plaintiffs’ legal and financial advisers with the supporting documents for each of the entries in the said financial spreadsheets subject to written undertakings given by them not to disclose the said documents to the Plaintiffs or any other parties without the order of the court. I now give my reasons.
Background of the dispute and the present application
2.
The present action is a dispute as to the true ownership, management and control of the Project, a “decentralised autonomous organisation” (“DAO”) finance platform project in the cryptocurrency industry. The Project involves the use of novel “blockchain” and “cryptoasset” technologies for the purpose of carrying out “Decentralised Finance” activities.
3.
The Plaintiffs claim that the Project belongs to, and should ultimately be controlled and managed by, the Plaintiffs. The Plaintiffs initially conceived and set up the Project, including conceiving the idea of a DAO project, designing its main components, locating and securing the initial investors and purchasing its website and email domain names.
4.
The 2
nd
Plaintiff (“RioDeFi”) is a company incorporated in Malaysia in November 2019 specialising in blockchain technology. RioDeFi’s shareholders and directors include Ng Kian Ming (“Calvin”), James Alan Anderson (“James”) and Stéphane Laurent (“Stephane”). Since its incorporation, RioDeFi has founded and established various blockchain projects, and developed its own technologies and products. According to the Plaintiffs, it had always been the intention that the different projects in the RioDeFi ecosystem could complement each other and be integrated as one group with a spectrum of different services and products, with the view that eventually all the projects will leverage off each other and form a unique and holistic offering in the market. RioDeFi’s bu
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