TUSD's Misappropriated Reserves Frozen Globally, Sun Yuchen Promotes Global Judicial Cooperation into Deep Waters

In April of this year, the systematic misappropriation of TrueUSD (TUSD) reserves drew significant attention from the industry. With the involvement of regulatory agencies in multiple regions and the deepening of cross-border investigations, this large-scale capital misappropriation case, which involves multiple jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Dubai, and the Cayman Islands, has recently made significant judicial progress.

On October 17, the Dubai International Financial Centre Court (the "DIFC Court") issued an indefinite global asset freeze order against Aria Commodities DMCC, involving an amount as high as $456 million.

In response to public concern, to enhance information transparency, and to enable the industry and the public to systematically understand the context of the event, on November 27, a media briefing titled "Truth Revealed, Justice Served — Progress of Global Judicial Prosecution of TUSD Reserve Assets" was held in Hong Kong. Sun Yuchen, the founder of TRON, attended the event and expressed heartfelt gratitude to the DIFC Court and its Digital Economy Court for making a fair and decisive ruling. He stated that efforts are actively underway globally to trace the whereabouts of the misappropriated funds, with the goal of fully recovering them and demanding that any wrongdoers return the corresponding reserve assets.

He also emphasized that such incidents highlight the importance of strengthening the regulation of traditional financial institutions in the cryptocurrency industry and the necessity of ensuring increased transparency in the trust relationships behind stablecoins. The TUSD rescue plan has never been just about saving a stablecoin; it is also about protecting the public interest and maintaining confidence and integrity in the blockchain industry.

On April 3 of this year, TUSD's operator Techteryx disclosed that $456 million of TUSD's reserve funds had been illegally misappropriated. The case involves the Hong Kong trust institution First Digital Trust ("FDT") and its affiliated company Legacy Trust, as well as the Dubai private company Aria Commodities DMCC ("Aria DMCC"). After discovering that these funds had been illegally misappropriated and transferred, Sun Yuchen provided approximately $500 million in financial support to Techteryx using personal funds to protect the interests of TUSD holders.

On November 13, Sun Yuchen retweeted the DIFC Court's ruling on social media, expressing gratitude for the court's issuance of a freeze order to protect the rights of TUSD holders on a global scale. In his tweet, he stated, "Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent."

In this ruling, the DIFC Court on October 17 decided to indefinitely extend the property injunction and global freeze order against Aria Commodities DMCC. Aria DMCC is a wholly-owned private holding company established in Dubai by Matthew Brittain, a British citizen who is the actual controller of the Aria Commodity Finance Fund.

The Hidden Chain of Fund Misappropriation: From Custodial Loopholes to the Emergence of Cross-Border Fraud Structures

The misappropriation of TUSD reserves can be traced back to the end of 2020, when Techteryx completed the overall acquisition of TUSD's business. Based on historical business continuity, the original operator TrueCoin, located in California, USA, was retained to continue managing the reserves and executing and coordinating at the banking level.

During the period from 2021 to 2022, TrueCoin closely colluded with some management personnel from its selected Hong Kong trust institutions FDT and Legacy Trust, forming a chain of interests with Matthew Brittain, the actual controller of the offshore fund ACFF.

With access to reserve fund instructions and fund paths, relevant personnel forged documents and fabricated investment instructions without authorization, repeatedly submitting materials with false statements to banks, and gradually transferring a total of $456 million of TUSD fiat reserve funds out of the regulated custodial system. The final destination of these funds was the account of the Dubai private company Aria DMCC. This company is privately held by Matthew Brittain's wife and is not an authorized investment target of Techteryx.

According to published information, FDT's CEO and director Vincent Chok not only approved these transfers but also actively promoted the flow of funds to private accounts to expedite the collection of high secret kickbacks. After the funds arrived in Dubai, the parties involved, in order to cover up the illegal source, recreated fund subscription documents, packaging these unauthorized reserves as "related loans" from ACFF, while also forging return records to make the entire fund path appear to have undergone legitimate investment circulation.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) publicly pointed out in 2024 that TrueCoin had long made misleading statements regarding the safety of reserves, failing to disclose significant risks to investors, and that there were non-negligible fraudulent elements in its management structure.

International Judicial Breakthrough: DIFC Court Ruling Enters Freeze and Recovery Phase

As the investigation materials became more concentrated, Techteryx proactively submitted materials to multiple regulatory agencies and sought judicial assistance starting in 2023. After months of cross-border evidence collection and multiple hearings, the DIFC Court ultimately became a key node in the judicial progress of the case.

On October 17 of this year, the DIFC Court officially ruled that there were "significant matters requiring trial" in the flow of the $456 million involved in the case, including whether the funds were illegally used to maintain the liquidity of private companies, whether authorizations were forged, whether custodians engaged in trust betrayal, and whether relevant institutions constituted joint fraud.

Based on the credibility of these factual foundations and the severity of the involved behaviors, the court issued an indefinite global asset freeze order against Aria DMCC, preventing the further transfer, disposal, or disappearance of the funds.

Once the ruling takes effect, any institution or individual who knowingly assists in the flow of funds despite the existence of the freeze order may constitute contempt of court and face severe legal consequences.

Legal proceedings in multiple regions around the world are set to accelerate, and as more asset paths are locked down, the individuals and institutions involved will face clearer legal repercussions.

The significance of this case extends far beyond a single stablecoin; it concerns not only the interests of investors but also the underlying logic of global stablecoin governance, the reliability of custodial systems, and the future direction of cross-border financial crime governance. In today's rapidly expanding international digital financial system, this case is expected to become an important milestone in establishing transparent standards for the global stablecoin industry.

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