The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says it has opened an investigation into failed Auckland-based Digital Asset Exchange Ltd which was trading as Dasset.
Dasset was placed into liquidation in August last year. The exchange had more than 5000 registered users, and liabilities of $6.9 million with just $600,000 in assets, according to the liquidators Russell More and David Ruscoe of Grant Thornton.
Grant Thornton's latest update on Dasset, from December 21, said the liquidators have been trying to recover information and remaining assets from a third-party offshore exchange.
Progress on the liquidation has been hampered by chief executive Stephen Macaskill being uncontactable since Dasset went under.
"However, our overall progress has been hindered by the fact that we have had no contact with the CEO (who is also a director) since the 3rd day of the liquidation, despite our numerous attempts to contact him," Grant Thornton said.
The liquidators also interviewed ex-employees and noted that "it appears there were significant problems with how the company maintained accurate records including user balances."
Grant Thornton expects that as the recorded assets held by Dasset were less than 10% of user and creditor balances, any funds available for repayment will be minimal. Inland Revenue is owed $203,000 in goods and services tax, as well as PAYE. Dasset staff entitlements were said to be $16,700 by Grant Thornton, which added in its first report that it was unknown at that stage if any funds would be available to pay preferred creditors.
Dasset registered as a financial services provider in July 2017, with a business address at 15 Sale St in Auckland with Macaskill as the director and shareholder. Other shareholders of Dasset included Techemy Limited, whose co-founder and chief executive Fran Strajnar also held shares in the crypto exchange.
The crypto exchange deregistered from the Financial Service Providers' Register in January 2023.
5 Comments
Not good at all but this is chicken feed in the scale of things. The crypto founder's liabilities will likely be using investor funds for his own trading. Move the assets off the entity's platform. If the guy is in the US, might be an opportunity to extradite. Harder if he's in Dubai.
Sure it was the "ruling elite" preventing people investing in a scam and fraudulent investment... except as Dasset proves these people did "invest" their money with no impediment. The fraudulent business with no financial governance or security turns out to have lost most the money... no surprises as any techie could see it was dodgy from the outset of due diligence... and the "ruling elite" just say it is a civil matter so far letting the customers carry the can for the criminal fraud while the perpetrators are sitting pretty scot free.
I think the issue is the exposure investors had to these types of businesses, just in the opposite sense. They could have invested in a scam fraudulent ETF offering business claiming investor funds were "invested" and still lost everything in exactly the same way for the same reasons. Its not the crypto assets being sold but who and how the investments are managed fraudulently with widespread theft. With crypto allowing the one way transfer of funds to hidden wallets through a chain of dodgy shells. Its gone for good, poof and the IRD & staff will be lucky to see all they are owed as well. Crypto does not create thieves and scam artists, it just allows them to get away with most the stolen goods in easier ways with no real customer recourse.
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