Gary Jones v Persons Unknown

Facts

Mr Gary Jones spent nearly £½ million between January 2019 and January 2020 buying 89.6 Bitcoin, which he placed on Extick Pro, a supposed cryptocurrency trading platform that turned out to be a vehicle for fraud. He commissioned reports from CiRO Global Risks LLP. On the strength of those reports he identified a wallet controlled by Huobi Global Ltd, a Seychelles exchange ("the tHEL wallet"), as one used by the fraudsters. In June 2022 he sued three classes of persons unknown and Huobi in the London Circuit Commercial Court and obtained freezing and proprietary freezing injunctions. Huobi did not engage with the proceedings. On 5 September 2022 Mr Nigel Cooper QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, granted summary judgment. He held Huobi to be a constructive trustee and ordered the 89.6 Bitcoin to be transferred from the tHEL wallet, together with some 8.6 Bitcoin to discharge a £148,000 costs order. Huobi complied: it transferred 98.2 Bitcoin to Mr Jones and debited that amount from the account of Kyrrex Ltd, a crypto-exchange that had deposited its customers' Bitcoin in the tHEL wallet. Kyrrex was not a party. It obtained the underlying documents and expert evidence showing that none of Mr Jones's Bitcoin had reached the tHEL wallet. In November 2024 it applied under CPR r 40.9 to set the order aside. HHJ Richard Pearce, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, dismissed the application. He held that Kyrrex was not "directly affected" and that the merits, delay and prejudice would in any event have defeated it. Kyrrex appealed with permission granted by Males LJ.