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A bank transfer has been highlighted in an ongoing Vesttoo fraud legal case, showing $4 million in funds sent to a China Construction Bank account in the name of Yu Po Holdings, the entity that was purported to have been the main investor providing collateral behind reinsurance deals where letters of credit (LOC) proved to be forged.
In recent court filings from Aon’s segregated accounts company White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd.’s New York lawsuit against China Construction Bank (CCB) over the Vesttoo fraud, this bank transfer has been highlighted as providing evidence that CCB must have further documentation of relevance to the case.
Aon’s White Rock entity filed this lawsuit in New York against China Construction Bank back in August 2024.
As we reported recently, Aon’s case raised the emergence of a criminal bribery case in Hong Kong against a former CCB employee, suggesting it means CCB must have relevant communications and documentation that would support its own claims against the bank and asking for the right to perform discovery to be granted.
That Hong Kong bribery case accuses the former China Construction Bank employee of accepting payments in a crypto currency amounting to US $470,000 from a Vesttoo employee, to authenticate false letters of credit and collateral documentation.
Now, the latest evidence provided to the court by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, on behalf of plaintiff White Rock, is of a bank transfer that it believes has relevance to the case and further demonstrates that CCB must have internal documentation which might further support the plaintiff’s claims.
The law firm’s letter to the court states, “White Rock became aware of a new document further evidencing that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of facts which the Court might consider to be essential to the issue of personal jurisdiction over CCBA. This document further supports White Rock’s alternative request for jurisdictional discovery.”
The letter continues, “Specifically, White Rock learned of a bank transfer confirmation evidencing that Vesttoo’s largest investor, Yu Po Holdings, maintained a bank account in CCBA and was thus a customer of CCBA. The bank transfer confirmation shows that a certain Vesttoo investor transferred $4 million to Yu Po Holdings’ bank account at CCBA in July 2023.”
The letter goes on to state that this document, a bank transfer confirmation slip, shows that Yu Po Holdings, supposedly the largest investor backing Vesttoo linked reinsurance deals, was “an authentic customer” of CCB and received payments into this account “as a result of the CCB LOCs.”
Continuing, “Accordingly, there is reason to believe that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of further documents and communications evidencing that CCBA obtained benefits as a result of the CCB LOCs. There is further reason to believe that CCBA and the other Defendants are in the exclusive possession of additional documents and communications regarding the CCB LOC and Vesttoo frauds and the involvement of CCBA’s customers and employees in the same.”
For reference, CCBA is China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited within the court filings.
The law firm’s letter states that these additional findings provide further evidence that former CCB employee Lam’s actions benefited CCBA and its customers, “and should thus be attributed to CCBA for purposes of specific personal jurisdiction.”
It also states that these facts provide more evidence that CCBA’s business in New York, including through Lam, gave rise to White Rock’s claims. Recall that CCB claims the court in NYC has no jurisdiction in the case.
The bank transfer confirmation slip has been presented in a filing as evidence and recall that the law firm’s letter stated it “shows that a certain Vesttoo investor transferred $4 million to Yu Po Holdings’ bank account at CCBA.”
The transfer confirmation shows the $4 million as coming from an account in the name of Matag Investments Ltd. Matag, as we’ve explained before, was a participant in one of Vesttoo’s equity funding rounds.
Matag was also a limited partner in of one of the debtor structures under the Vesttoo bankruptcy case, a vehicle named Vescor Bay L.P. which had been exposed to the fraud.
Just recently, Matag entered into a settlement with the Vesttoo bankruptcy trust, alongside another company M. Arkin
(1999) Ltd., and Matag received a small $299,999 settlement from the reserves held for Vescor Bay, as it held some rights to the remaining funds.
As we reported in January 2024, Matag Investments purchased a 23% interest in Vescor LP from YuPo for a purchase price of $4 million, so that may explain this specific transaction confirmation from the bank records now filed with the NY court case.
Recall that Yu Po was named relatively early on in the Vesttoo bankruptcy saga, but it’s worth noting that Chinese investor YuPo Holdings, Ltd. was also documented as the sole limited partner of Vescor LP, at least to begin.
As we had reported back in August 2023, information revealed a missing piece of the puzzle related to the invalid or fraudulent letter of credit (LOC) issues affecting Vesttoo facilitated collateralized reinsurance deals, with this Hong Kong investor group named Yu Po named as a target for pre-trial discovery.
We were told that Yu Po Holdings and another company Yu Po Finance were entities of the main investor behind all of the reinsurance LOCs that were found to be invalid.
While, sources had told us that Yu Po Holdings was the main investor entity behind the majority of the Vesttoo-facilitated reinsurance deals where China Construction Bank (CCB) was said to have provided the letters of credit (LOC) to support them, those LOCs now turning out to have been forged.
Yu Po Holdings was supposed to have been the provider of collateral in the reinsurance transactions in question, while CCB issued the LOCs to guarantee this. We were also told at the time that Yu Po, or its representative, had been through certain KYC checks.
So this payment from Matag to Yu Po’s CCB bank account is purported to show that this investor behind the fraudulent LOC collateral had an active account with and so was a client of China Construction Bank. Hence the claim from the Aon White Rock case legal team that this shows that further documentation and evidence may be held by the bank that could be relevant to its claims.
Which adds further weight to the calls for jurisdictional discovery to be performed, to allow documentary and communication-based evidence to be submitted to the court for analysis.
One further new development in the White Rock and CCB lawsuit, is that CCB has responded through its legal team, with a memorandum of law in support of dismissing White Rock’s claims against the bank.
In this filing, CCB continues to claim that its entities accused in the case are not subject to general jurisdiction in New York, that White Rock fails to state its claims and that they fail. It does not, however, make reference to this latest filing of the bank transfer, rather sticking to its guns that the New York court does not have jurisdiction over it and that White Rock’s claims miss the mark.
The case seems likely to continue for some time, with both parties sticking to their guns. But it will be interesting to see how the court responds to the raising of this bank transfer to Yu Po’s account.
Bank transfer to Vesttoo deal investor Yu Po’s CCB account raised in NY court case was published by: www.Artemis.bm
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