A stablecoin operator has escalated its campaign over US$456mn in reserves invested in the Aria Commodity Finance Fund, alleging the money was partly used to repay the fund’s other investors.
Techteryx Ltd, the operator of the TrueUSD stablecoin, said in court documents filed in Oklahoma last week that it believes the reserves were used to meet principal repayments to firms such as OCBC and CGS International Securities Singapore Pte Ltd, which held notes issued by Aria entities.
Techteryx, a company associated with crypto tycoon Justin Sun, has been embroiled in a global legal fight with the Aria group of companies and its head Matthew Brittain, over the transfer of a large chunk of the TrueUSD reserves to the fund and Aria Commodities DMCC, a UAE entity.
Aria has not honoured most redemption requests made by TrueUSD and has invested the reserves in a range of companies and projects around the world, rather than primarily in short-term trade finance lending, a Dubai court found last year.
In the Oklahoma filings, Techteryx is seeking a court order allowing it access to information held by several Aria entities operating in the US state. The company said it needs the records for planned lawsuits in Singapore against OCBC and CGS International for claims including “dishonest assistance, knowing receipt, and unlawful means conspiracy”.
Techteryx said in April 2019 that UK special purpose vehicle Serica Finance Plc issued senior secured rated notes, the proceeds of which were remitted to the Aria Commodity Finance Fund. Brittain previously told the Dubai court that CGS International was a “significant” buyer of the notes, Techteryx claimed.
An investment memorandum filed by Techteryx showed that Aria planned to invest the note proceeds in originating commodity trade finance assets. A list of counterparties to which the fund expected to have exposures included highly rated global corporates such as Toyota, BASF, Shell and Koch Industries, with credit protection to be provided by AIG.
The notes were supposed to mature in May 2020, but the noteholders agreed to extend the maturity by one year, according to Techteryx’s filing. In August that year, Serica said it would not pay interest because it had not received payments from the Aria fund.
Around the same time, between June and December 2020, US$97mn of TrueUSD reserves were invested in the fund, Techteryx said.
“Based on the timing of this investment and Brittain’s documented disregard for corporate formalities,” Techteryx believes the fund used that investment “to repay the holders of the Serica Notes (including CGS) when the Serica Notes matured in May 2021”, the company said in the filing.
The firm also suspects Aria repaid a US$3.7mn note issued to OCBC in 2020 out of US$268mn that was transferred from the TrueUSD reserves between May and August 2021.
Techteryx said it also plans to take legal action against Singapore companies Carbon Resilience and Carbon Resilience (Australia). It said both companies are owned by the Aria fund and received an US$18mn loan which Brittain said in separate court proceedings came from the TrueUSD reserves and was used to buy Australian renewable energy assets.
“The preparation of the Singapore litigations is well underway, and Techteryx expects those proceedings to begin in the near term,” it said in the filing.
OCBC declined to comment. CGS did not respond to requests for comment.
Techteryx bought TrueUSD’s operating entity in 2021. The connection of Sun – one of the world’s highest-profile figures in the cryptocurrency world, and more widely known for buying an artwork of a banana duct-taped to a wall for US$6.2mn in 2024 and eating it – to Techteryx has not been publicly disclosed.
Last year Sun held a press conference lambasting Aria, TrueUSD’s Hong Kong trust provider, and the stablecoin’s investment advisors, over the alleged misappropriation of the reserves.
Brittain did not respond to a request for comment. Last year he told CoinDesk he “completely rejects Techteryx’s claims against Aria DMCC and any related entities” and claimed “a number of false allegations were made in the court proceedings”.
