Sanaa El Debs & Ors v Craig Coughlan

Facts

The applicants are four members of the Debs family, which runs a Japanese-Lebanese textiles and food products business; the first to third applicants are siblings and the fourth their cousin. Between 2020 and 2023 they invested just under USD6m in Drecford Holdings Limited, a company incorporated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market in which the respondent, Craig Coughlan, was a 50% shareholder and director, and which he managed from England. The investment was arranged by Purple Capital Group SAM, a Monaco financial services company retained as the applicants' advisor, whose chairman Rida Lababedi and director David Ayache were themselves, unknown to the applicants, shareholders in Drecford. The applicants were told the investment was safe and would yield 8% per annum, and were sent a presentation describing Drecford as funding low-risk international trade and having deployed USD55m since January 2018 — a year before its incorporation. Their loan notes were converted into bonds issued by a Luxembourg securitization vehicle in early 2023; only one interest payment followed, and communication ceased in October 2023. Drecford was deregistered in the ADGM on 28 May 2024. The applicants applied for pre-action disclosure under CPR 31.16 in support of proposed claims in deceit and unlawful means conspiracy.