Author: Nancy, PANews After five years and involving hundreds of millions of dollars, the battle to recover TUSD reserves has finally made significant progress. Recently, a Dubai court issued an injunction freezing $456 million in TUSD reserves, drawing significant market attention. On November 27, TRON founder Justin Sun gave a detailed account of the TUSD reserve misappropriation incident, the latest investigation and litigation progress, and offered many suggestions on industry risk management and global regulation at a press conference in Hong Kong. A Dubai court issued a global freezing order, and the case of misappropriation of TUSD reserves has entered the judicial stage. "Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent." This was Sun Yuchen's statement following a judicial breakthrough in the TUSD reserve misappropriation case. At the press conference, the eight characters "Truth revealed, justice manifested" were prominently displayed on the backdrop. In November, the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts (DIFC Courts) issued its first global freeze order against Dubai-based Aria Commodities DMCC, prohibiting it from disposing of, transferring, or reducing cash or assets totaling $456 million, including assets within Dubai. This marks the formal entry into the judicial accountability phase of a five-year case involving the misappropriation of TUSD reserves by the custodian. The DIFC court's injunction aims to prevent the respondent from disposing of, transferring, or reducing the value of their assets, ensuring the enforceability of future judgments. This injunction is particularly valuable in transnational or interjurisdictional disputes, preserving assets, which is a key reason why the DIFC court is attractive for handling international business and cross-border investment disputes. Any violation of the injunction constitutes contempt of court, which can result in fines, imprisonment, or asset seizure, and may be referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution Authority. This means that the misappropriated TUSD reserves cannot be further transferred or concealed at this stage. In fact, in February of this year, Techteryx, the issuer of TUSD, had already applied to the DIFC court for an injunction against Aria DMCC, and to track down the $456 million in TUSD-related reserve funds illegally misappropriated by Aria DMCC in collusion with FDT. After several rounds of hearings, the DIFC court finally ruled on October 17 to extend indefinitely the injunction against Aria DMCC and the global freeze order. According to court documents, Aria DMCC transferred at least $456 million in reserves through six remittances and invested them in high-risk projects it knew were unauthorized. The DIFC court found these investments to be seriously irregular, and a key point of contention remains to be heard: whether the funds were misappropriated to maintain the Aria Group's liquidity, rather than for the purposes stated in the Cayman fund filings. According to Matthew Brittain, the de facto controller of the offshore fund Aria Commodity Finance Fund (ACFF), the Hong Kong trust company First Digital Trust (FDT) requested that the assets be transferred to Aria DMCC's private account, rather than a regulated Cayman fund, in order to expedite the receipt of a secret kickback of up to $15 million. After receiving the funds, Aria DMCC carried out a "transfer" operation at the end of 2022, and subsequently prepared a new set of ACFF fund subscription documents, disguising $456 million as a related loan and "returning" it in the form of transferring "assets" to the Cayman fund. The DIFC court ruling stated that the existing evidence supported Techteryx's claim that Vincent Chok, Matthew Brittain, and others were fully aware of and conspired to commit fraud that harmed Techteryx's interests. Furthermore, because Aria DMCC was unable to provide detailed information regarding the use of funds, asset purchases, and ultimate ownership—claiming that the passage of time had led to data gaps—the DIFC court ordered it to provide a full disclosure of the whereabouts of the $456 million in reserves. It is expected to receive this information by November 27th. Techteryx and its global team of experts are also tracing the flow of the misappropriated $456 million in reserves based on the evidence disclosed by Aria DMCC and will take further action to freeze more funds, while pursuing civil and criminal liability against all those involved in the illegal activities. Techteryx launches global legal action to reconcile over $450 million elaborate scam. This "carefully packaged" embezzlement case dates back to December 2020. At the time, after acquiring the stablecoin TUSD from TrueCoin LLC, Techteryx entrusted its operations to TrueCoin, which was responsible for reserve custody services and coordinating international operations. During this period, TrueCoin entrusted over $500 million worth of TUSD reserves to FDT for management, and the offshore fund ACFF as its main investment product. It wasn't until July 2023 that Techteryx announced a full takeover of the TUSD offshore business and services. However, due to FDT's failure to pay interest on some of its investments, Techteryx launched an urgent investigation and temporarily quarantined 400 million TUSD to mitigate the risk. The investigation revealed that FDT had transferred at least $456 million in reserves to Aria DMCC without authorization, instead of ACFF, a Cayman Islands-registered entity. ACFF is understood to be controlled by Cayman fund manager Matthew Brittain through Aria Capital Management Ltd, while Aria DMCC is wholly owned by his wife, Cecilia Brittain. At the press conference, Justin Sun pointed out that Aria DMM made false statements, packaging high-risk investments as low-risk, highly liquid instruments. These funds were transferred through multiple layers to Dubai, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other regions, and were stuck in high-risk or non-redeemable investment projects, including asphalt manufacturing facilities in the UAE, coal mining rights in Africa, commodity projects in the United States and Ukraine, and port and renewable energy projects in Australia. After its funding chain broke, Techteryx turned to Justin Sun for help, who provided $500 million in financial assistance out of his own pocket as an advisor. In September 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused TrueCoin and TrustToken of participating in unregistered investment contracts offered and sold in the form of TUSD and related profit opportunities on the TrueFi platform, misleading investors by claiming that TUSD was fully backed by the US dollar or its equivalent, when in fact 99% of the reserves were invested in risky offshore investment funds. However, the two companies neither admitted nor denied the allegations, instead choosing to settle by paying a civil penalty of $163,766. In April 2025, Justin Sun publicly stated that TrueCoin was suspected of conspiring with FDT and other institutions to transfer $456 million of TUSD reserves to a Dubai company through fake documents and unauthorized transfers, and announced a $50 million bounty program to collect clues related to the misappropriation of TUSD funds. In response, FDT issued a statement strongly denying the allegations, stating that it executed transactions solely based on written instructions from Techteryx and its authorized representatives, and did not independently assess the investments. FDT believes that Justin Sun and Techteryx are attempting to evade their responsibilities in managing stablecoins through false accusations. The company plans to sue Justin Sun for defamation and has applied to the Hong Kong High Court for an injunction to prevent him from continuing to make related statements. In fact, since 2023, Techteryx has commissioned an independent professional team to conduct a full investigation into FDT. After discovering a large amount of evidence of misappropriation of escrow funds, the team has filed lawsuits against the individuals involved in courts in different regions of the world and reported the matter to relevant law enforcement agencies. To provide a model for global regulation, it is recommended to optimize risk control and accountability mechanisms. This long-awaited global freeze order not only safeguards the legitimate interests of TUSD holders, but also provides an important warning for risk control in the crypto industry and offers a judicial model for regulatory agencies in various countries. Justin Sun provided an in-depth analysis of the underlying reasons for the misappropriation of TUSD funds and the difficulties in seeking redress. He pointed out that this incident was not a problem of individual institutions, but rather a systemic flaw exposed in the custody process of traditional financial institutions and the crypto industry. The failure to strictly separate reserve assets from investment assets, and the unauthorized direct transfer of funds to unqualified private entities, coupled with the deficiencies in internal controls, legal compliance, and risk management of traditional financial institutions, became the root cause of the incident. Justin Sun further pointed out that there was significant room for manipulation in key internal processes during the incident. Forged investment instructions, false statements, and secret kickbacks indicate a lack of effective checks and balances on key personnel. Even though the institution had compliance and risk control departments, their functions were virtually nonexistent, leading to the direct theft of client funds. Furthermore, the multi-layered offshore structure further increased the difficulty of supervision. This incident involved multiple jurisdictions, and the complex cross-border structure reduced transparency and accountability, making it difficult for conventional audits to penetrate and facilitating money laundering and fund transfers for perpetrators. In response to these issues, Justin Sun proposed that a sustainable and reliable risk control and legal protection mechanism should be established by focusing on four aspects: transparent disclosure, enhanced auditing, accountability, and global regulatory cooperation, so as to provide solid support for the healthy development of the industry. He believes the crypto industry can fully leverage blockchain technology to achieve transparent on-chain disclosure of transactions, transfers, and information, thereby preventing similar risks at the source. Simultaneously, regulatory agencies should strengthen audits of trust companies' fund management and regularly disclose institutional asset information for public access to prevent internal collusion that could render regulation ineffective. Post-incident accountability is equally important; executives and related personnel must bear individual and criminal liability. In this case, the act of facilitating illegal transfers to obtain secret kickbacks exceeds the scope of dereliction of duty and constitutes a joint crime. Furthermore, trust license holders should promptly report any significant fund transfers to regulatory authorities to ensure accountability. More importantly, global regulatory cooperation must be strengthened, establishing a comprehensive cross-border regulatory mechanism to track illicit fund flows and money laundering activities. Establishing dedicated digital asset courts to support global asset freezing and recovery of victimized funds is crucial to preventing perpetrators from using multiple jurisdictions to transfer assets. “This DIFC global asset freeze order is a milestone in the history of judicial protection of crypto assets and can serve as a textbook case for regulatory agencies in various countries. It will not only help track cross-border fraud and illicit fund flows, but will also further enhance the maturity and transparency of the industry, ensuring that genuine illegal activities are brought to justice,” Justin Sun emphasized. He hopes that the TUSD case in Dubai will encourage more judicial and auditing institutions around the world to cooperate in combating global crime and money laundering. In addition, Justin Sun stated that the TUSD rescue plan not only aims to maintain the stability of TUSD, but also focuses on protecting the interests of users and upholding the integrity and confidence of the blockchain industry. He added that the company will steadfastly fulfill its commitments going forward. "Today, TUSD is more robust than ever before, with more comprehensive safeguards to ensure that all circulating TUSD is backed by sufficient reserves and to further strengthen compliance management."Author: Nancy, PANews After five years and involving hundreds of millions of dollars, the battle to recover TUSD reserves has finally made significant progress. Recently, a Dubai court issued an injunction freezing $456 million in TUSD reserves, drawing significant market attention. On November 27, TRON founder Justin Sun gave a detailed account of the TUSD reserve misappropriation incident, the latest investigation and litigation progress, and offered many suggestions on industry risk management and global regulation at a press conference in Hong Kong. A Dubai court issued a global freezing order, and the case of misappropriation of TUSD reserves has entered the judicial stage. "Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent." This was Sun Yuchen's statement following a judicial breakthrough in the TUSD reserve misappropriation case. At the press conference, the eight characters "Truth revealed, justice manifested" were prominently displayed on the backdrop. In November, the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts (DIFC Courts) issued its first global freeze order against Dubai-based Aria Commodities DMCC, prohibiting it from disposing of, transferring, or reducing cash or assets totaling $456 million, including assets within Dubai. This marks the formal entry into the judicial accountability phase of a five-year case involving the misappropriation of TUSD reserves by the custodian. The DIFC court's injunction aims to prevent the respondent from disposing of, transferring, or reducing the value of their assets, ensuring the enforceability of future judgments. This injunction is particularly valuable in transnational or interjurisdictional disputes, preserving assets, which is a key reason why the DIFC court is attractive for handling international business and cross-border investment disputes. Any violation of the injunction constitutes contempt of court, which can result in fines, imprisonment, or asset seizure, and may be referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution Authority. This means that the misappropriated TUSD reserves cannot be further transferred or concealed at this stage. In fact, in February of this year, Techteryx, the issuer of TUSD, had already applied to the DIFC court for an injunction against Aria DMCC, and to track down the $456 million in TUSD-related reserve funds illegally misappropriated by Aria DMCC in collusion with FDT. After several rounds of hearings, the DIFC court finally ruled on October 17 to extend indefinitely the injunction against Aria DMCC and the global freeze order. According to court documents, Aria DMCC transferred at least $456 million in reserves through six remittances and invested them in high-risk projects it knew were unauthorized. The DIFC court found these investments to be seriously irregular, and a key point of contention remains to be heard: whether the funds were misappropriated to maintain the Aria Group's liquidity, rather than for the purposes stated in the Cayman fund filings. According to Matthew Brittain, the de facto controller of the offshore fund Aria Commodity Finance Fund (ACFF), the Hong Kong trust company First Digital Trust (FDT) requested that the assets be transferred to Aria DMCC's private account, rather than a regulated Cayman fund, in order to expedite the receipt of a secret kickback of up to $15 million. After receiving the funds, Aria DMCC carried out a "transfer" operation at the end of 2022, and subsequently prepared a new set of ACFF fund subscription documents, disguising $456 million as a related loan and "returning" it in the form of transferring "assets" to the Cayman fund. The DIFC court ruling stated that the existing evidence supported Techteryx's claim that Vincent Chok, Matthew Brittain, and others were fully aware of and conspired to commit fraud that harmed Techteryx's interests. Furthermore, because Aria DMCC was unable to provide detailed information regarding the use of funds, asset purchases, and ultimate ownership—claiming that the passage of time had led to data gaps—the DIFC court ordered it to provide a full disclosure of the whereabouts of the $456 million in reserves. It is expected to receive this information by November 27th. Techteryx and its global team of experts are also tracing the flow of the misappropriated $456 million in reserves based on the evidence disclosed by Aria DMCC and will take further action to freeze more funds, while pursuing civil and criminal liability against all those involved in the illegal activities. Techteryx launches global legal action to reconcile over $450 million elaborate scam. This "carefully packaged" embezzlement case dates back to December 2020. At the time, after acquiring the stablecoin TUSD from TrueCoin LLC, Techteryx entrusted its operations to TrueCoin, which was responsible for reserve custody services and coordinating international operations. During this period, TrueCoin entrusted over $500 million worth of TUSD reserves to FDT for management, and the offshore fund ACFF as its main investment product. It wasn't until July 2023 that Techteryx announced a full takeover of the TUSD offshore business and services. However, due to FDT's failure to pay interest on some of its investments, Techteryx launched an urgent investigation and temporarily quarantined 400 million TUSD to mitigate the risk. The investigation revealed that FDT had transferred at least $456 million in reserves to Aria DMCC without authorization, instead of ACFF, a Cayman Islands-registered entity. ACFF is understood to be controlled by Cayman fund manager Matthew Brittain through Aria Capital Management Ltd, while Aria DMCC is wholly owned by his wife, Cecilia Brittain. At the press conference, Justin Sun pointed out that Aria DMM made false statements, packaging high-risk investments as low-risk, highly liquid instruments. These funds were transferred through multiple layers to Dubai, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other regions, and were stuck in high-risk or non-redeemable investment projects, including asphalt manufacturing facilities in the UAE, coal mining rights in Africa, commodity projects in the United States and Ukraine, and port and renewable energy projects in Australia. After its funding chain broke, Techteryx turned to Justin Sun for help, who provided $500 million in financial assistance out of his own pocket as an advisor. In September 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused TrueCoin and TrustToken of participating in unregistered investment contracts offered and sold in the form of TUSD and related profit opportunities on the TrueFi platform, misleading investors by claiming that TUSD was fully backed by the US dollar or its equivalent, when in fact 99% of the reserves were invested in risky offshore investment funds. However, the two companies neither admitted nor denied the allegations, instead choosing to settle by paying a civil penalty of $163,766. In April 2025, Justin Sun publicly stated that TrueCoin was suspected of conspiring with FDT and other institutions to transfer $456 million of TUSD reserves to a Dubai company through fake documents and unauthorized transfers, and announced a $50 million bounty program to collect clues related to the misappropriation of TUSD funds. In response, FDT issued a statement strongly denying the allegations, stating that it executed transactions solely based on written instructions from Techteryx and its authorized representatives, and did not independently assess the investments. FDT believes that Justin Sun and Techteryx are attempting to evade their responsibilities in managing stablecoins through false accusations. The company plans to sue Justin Sun for defamation and has applied to the Hong Kong High Court for an injunction to prevent him from continuing to make related statements. In fact, since 2023, Techteryx has commissioned an independent professional team to conduct a full investigation into FDT. After discovering a large amount of evidence of misappropriation of escrow funds, the team has filed lawsuits against the individuals involved in courts in different regions of the world and reported the matter to relevant law enforcement agencies. To provide a model for global regulation, it is recommended to optimize risk control and accountability mechanisms. This long-awaited global freeze order not only safeguards the legitimate interests of TUSD holders, but also provides an important warning for risk control in the crypto industry and offers a judicial model for regulatory agencies in various countries. Justin Sun provided an in-depth analysis of the underlying reasons for the misappropriation of TUSD funds and the difficulties in seeking redress. He pointed out that this incident was not a problem of individual institutions, but rather a systemic flaw exposed in the custody process of traditional financial institutions and the crypto industry. The failure to strictly separate reserve assets from investment assets, and the unauthorized direct transfer of funds to unqualified private entities, coupled with the deficiencies in internal controls, legal compliance, and risk management of traditional financial institutions, became the root cause of the incident. Justin Sun further pointed out that there was significant room for manipulation in key internal processes during the incident. Forged investment instructions, false statements, and secret kickbacks indicate a lack of effective checks and balances on key personnel. Even though the institution had compliance and risk control departments, their functions were virtually nonexistent, leading to the direct theft of client funds. Furthermore, the multi-layered offshore structure further increased the difficulty of supervision. This incident involved multiple jurisdictions, and the complex cross-border structure reduced transparency and accountability, making it difficult for conventional audits to penetrate and facilitating money laundering and fund transfers for perpetrators. In response to these issues, Justin Sun proposed that a sustainable and reliable risk control and legal protection mechanism should be established by focusing on four aspects: transparent disclosure, enhanced auditing, accountability, and global regulatory cooperation, so as to provide solid support for the healthy development of the industry. He believes the crypto industry can fully leverage blockchain technology to achieve transparent on-chain disclosure of transactions, transfers, and information, thereby preventing similar risks at the source. Simultaneously, regulatory agencies should strengthen audits of trust companies' fund management and regularly disclose institutional asset information for public access to prevent internal collusion that could render regulation ineffective. Post-incident accountability is equally important; executives and related personnel must bear individual and criminal liability. In this case, the act of facilitating illegal transfers to obtain secret kickbacks exceeds the scope of dereliction of duty and constitutes a joint crime. Furthermore, trust license holders should promptly report any significant fund transfers to regulatory authorities to ensure accountability. More importantly, global regulatory cooperation must be strengthened, establishing a comprehensive cross-border regulatory mechanism to track illicit fund flows and money laundering activities. Establishing dedicated digital asset courts to support global asset freezing and recovery of victimized funds is crucial to preventing perpetrators from using multiple jurisdictions to transfer assets. “This DIFC global asset freeze order is a milestone in the history of judicial protection of crypto assets and can serve as a textbook case for regulatory agencies in various countries. It will not only help track cross-border fraud and illicit fund flows, but will also further enhance the maturity and transparency of the industry, ensuring that genuine illegal activities are brought to justice,” Justin Sun emphasized. He hopes that the TUSD case in Dubai will encourage more judicial and auditing institutions around the world to cooperate in combating global crime and money laundering. In addition, Justin Sun stated that the TUSD rescue plan not only aims to maintain the stability of TUSD, but also focuses on protecting the interests of users and upholding the integrity and confidence of the blockchain industry. He added that the company will steadfastly fulfill its commitments going forward. "Today, TUSD is more robust than ever before, with more comprehensive safeguards to ensure that all circulating TUSD is backed by sufficient reserves and to further strengthen compliance management."