Fight for Hodlnaut ramps up as allegations stream in

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Hello reader,

If you can look past the legal jargon and, generally, somber atmosphere, the back and forth in courtroom battles is similar to that in spectator sports like football or tennis – though the former takes much longer to produce a result. Legal outcomes can take years, given there’s a lot more on the line and lives are often at stake.

You’ll find plenty of back and forth in today’s featured piece as well, with Hodlnaut and its current interim judicial manager, Ernst & Young (EY), juggling a host of allegations in the legal squabble for control of the Singapore-based crypto lender.

Today we look at:

• The legal tussle between Hodlnaut and its IJM, EY
• Grab closing its cloud kitchen operations in Indonesia
• Other newsy highlights such as the surge in revenue for Indonesian digibanks and former Luckin execs starting a new venture

— Shravanth

P.S.: If you’re an entrepreneur looking for funding, fill out this form to get your company featured on our list of fundraising startups.

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An intense court battle

Image credit: Timmy Loen

There’s a laundry list of accusations being hurled at each other by Hodlnaut’s founders and EY.

Hodlnaut co-founder Simon Lee is looking to replace EY as the company’s interim judicial manager (IJM) after signing an application requesting the Singapore High Court to do the same, alleging that EY has been unfairly prejudicial in its handling of the case.

In response, Aaron Loh Cheng Lee, one of the executives managing the IJM for EY, labeled the Hodlnaut co-founder’s application and affidavit a “calculated campaign to publicly disparage and discredit the IJMs,” while suggesting that the move “appears to be motivated by the directors’ fear of personal liability” for actions taken before the appointment on the IJM.

• Breaking point?: According to Loh, the campaign against the IJM team escalated when they tried to retrieve documents that Hodlnaut co-founder Lee and other employees had deleted from Google Workspace.
• Questions being raised: Lee’s affidavit further alleges that EY’s appointment of law firm WongPartnership to replace Damodara created a conflict of interest. WongPartnership acknowledged that it also represents Algorand Foundation, one of Hodlnaut’s largest creditors.
• Not a good look: Before filing for IJM protection, Hodlnaut co-founder Zhu Juntao had repeatedly denied that Hodlnaut was exposed to the UST crash. But the crypto lender later admitted having over US$300 million in the Anchor protocol.

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