Bankruptcy Trustee Sues Italian Firm to Recover Over $238k in Alleged Fraudulent Transfers by Accused Crypto Fraudster Miles Kwok
On Sunday, February 11, 2024, the Chapter 11 Trustee in the bankruptcy case of Chinese businessman Ho Wan Kwok, also known as Miles Kwok, filed an adversary proceeding against the Italian company Rilievi Group S.R.L.
Luc Despins, who was appointed as the Trustee to represent Kwok’s estate, alleges that Kwok transferred over $238,000 to Rilievi Group prior to declaring bankruptcy through his shell companies G Fashion and Lexington Property and Staffing Inc. Despins seeks to avoid and recover the transfers under bankruptcy law and New York fraudulent transfer statutes.
On March 15, 2023, Kwok was apprehended in New York by Federal authorities on allegations of conspiring to deceive his online followers and swindle them out of over $1 billion. The charges against him encompass various illicit activities, such as orchestrating a $452 million unregistered offering and securing $150 million in loans for GTV, as well as collecting $250 million through membership programs and $262 million for the Himalaya Exchange cryptocurrency project. Presently, Guo confronts 11 accusations, including securities fraud, wire fraud, and the concealment of money laundering. Despite pleading not guilty to all 11 charges, he remains incarcerated, awaiting trial scheduled for April 8, 2024.
Kwok filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2022 claiming just $3,850 in assets despite owing hundreds of millions to creditors. However, the Trustee’s complaint argues that Kwok secretly controlled and benefited from a web of over 50 shell companies set up in family and associates’ names.
The complaint details how Kwok used the shell companies like G Fashion and Lexington as his “personal piggy-banks” to fund his lavish lifestyle while hiding assets from creditors. Despins has initiated several other adversary proceedings to recover assets from Kwok’s network of shell companies. A bankruptcy judge has already ruled some companies, including Ace Decade Limited and Eastern Profit Corporation Limited, were effectively controlled by Kwok.
Despins contends the transfers to Rilievi Group were intentionally fraudulent as they were made through Kwok’s alter ego companies as part of his scheme to hinder, delay, and defraud creditors. Kwok fiercely resisted efforts by one of his largest creditors, the Pacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund, to enforce a $116 million judgment against him.
If successful, the litigation against Rilievi Group would add to the assets recoverable for Kwok’s bankruptcy estate. Given the vast amounts Kwok has been accused of laundering and the lavish way he funded his lifestyle and family through encrypted transactions and corporate shells, victims of his alleged cryptocurrency fraud schemes hope to receive some compensation.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
