$12m suit against Torque founder, fintech firm dismissed

Court rules investor failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove authenticity of service agreement he relied on

- Joyce Lim

The High Court has dismissed a US$9 million (S$12 million) lawsuit brought by a Greek investor against Singapore fintech firm Snap Innovations and businessman Bernard Ong, founder of failed crypto firm Torque.

In a written judgment released on Aug 2, the court ruled that Mr Georgios Baizanis had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the authenticity of a service agreement that allegedly committed Snap to replacing stolen digital assets.

Additionally, the court found that Mr Ong, 36, who held the title of managing director at Snap, did not actually have the authority to bind Snap to such an agreement.

Mr Baizanis, 49, claimed that a service agreement signed on May 24, 2019, guaranteed compensation for any digital assets stolen by Snap's staff within five business days. The agreement was supposedly signed by Mr Ong and Mr Wu Zongyi (also known as Zee), a Snap director in Vietnam.

Mr Baizanis, represented by lawyers David Ong and Matthew Chua of law practice David Ong & Co, sued Snap in 2021 for breaching the corporate guarantee and failing to supervise Zee. He also pursued Mr Ong, as Snap's managing director, for breach of warranty of authority.

Snap, represented by lawyers Christopher de Souza, Basil Lee and Darius Tan from law firm Lee & Lee, denied all the claims. In its defence filed with the High Court in 2021, the firm said it never had trading operations in Vietnam through Snap Vietnam.