Cryptopia Limited (in liquidation)

[2025] NZHC 2113

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA ROHE

CIV-2019-409-544

CIV-2023-485-411 [2025] NZHC 2113

IN THE MATTER

of an application concerning CRYPTOPIA LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION)

AND

IN THE MATTER

of an application by DAVID IAN RUSCOE and MALCOLM RUSSELL MOORE of GRANT THORNTON NEW ZEALAND

LIMITED

BETWEEN

DAVID IAN RUSCOE and MALCOLM RUSSELL MOORE of

GRANT THORNTON NEW ZEALAND
LIMITED, as liquidators of CRYPTOPIA LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION)
Applicants

AND

RYAN HOUCHENS, GIA THANH PHAN, TRISTEN ROBINSON, JOSHUA DAVID STEVENSON, ANDREW ST JOHN ROSS
First to Fifth Interested Parties

AND

GNY.IO LIMITED

Sixth Interested Party

On the papers

Counsel:

Applicant in person

S A Barker and B McKinnon for the liquidators

Judgment:

30 July 2025

JUDGMENT OF ISAC J

[Access to Court documents]

CRYPTOPIA LTD [2025] NZHC 2113 [30 July 2025]

Introduction

[1]                 By  application  of   1 April 2025   a   person   identifying   themselves   as  Dr Vihang Sharma applies for access to documents in this proceeding.

[2]                 The documents to which access is sought are identified in the notice of application as:

All transcripts, for Dec 18 2024 case Ruscoe vs Cattermole.

[Exhibit] DIR 2, court document handed out in 2nd affidavit by Ruscoe in 2019.

All judge notes for Court orders made for the release of 344 Bitcoin,

All briefs provided by Liquidator to the Grant Thornton Recommended and Court appointed Lawyers.

All meetings and all documents such as May 18 2019, which has not been put up, court hearing with Ruscoe vs Cryptopia.

[3]The reasons for the access request are as follows:

I would like to seek out answers as to why the TRUSTEE / Liquidator are hiding the blockchain wallet addresses for my assets. They have breached trust law and I would like to seek out the return of my funds. I need assets returned to me.

David Ruscoe is in contempt of court as he has not followed the court order and provided all the court documents to the beneficiaries.

[4]                 In a memorandum in response by the liquidators, they say exhibit DIR2 of  Mr Ruscoe’s 8 November 2019 affidavit contains highly confidential information, including account holder details. The previous disclosure of the exhibit has been the subject of successful proceedings by the liquidators for breach of confidence. Injunctions are currently in place against Mr Victor Cattermole, his company, Epic Trust Ltd, and associated defendants concerning their misuse of the information.1 The

1      Ruscoe (as liquidators of Cryptopia Ltd (In Liq)) v Epic Trust Ltd [2024] NZHC 165; Ruscoe v Epic Trust Ltd [2024] NZHC 1336; Ruscoe v Epic Trust [2024] NZHC 1546. The liquidators have twice applied for orders that Mr Cattermole is in contempt of court. The first application was resolved by consent: Ruscoe v Cattermole HC Christchurch CIV 2019-409-544, 14 July 2021 (Orders of the Court by Consent). In December 2024, McHerron J held that Mr Cattermole was again in breach of the Court’s 21 October 2020 orders and would have (if it were not for 16(3)(a) of the Act) committed contempt of Court: Ruscoe and Moore v Cattermole [2024] NZHC 3883.

liquidators also use the account information in the exhibit to verify individuals’ ownership of accounts held by Cryptopia. If the information were disclosed to the applicant, it could be used to “reverse engineer” the liquidators’ account confirmation process. The liquidators also understand the applicant is “presently in the account registration process”, and there is a risk the information he seeks would be used for that purpose. Disclosure of the document is therefore opposed.

[5]                 In addition, the liquidators understand the applicant seeks access to an affidavit of Mr Ruscoe dated 31 July 2023. There are in fact two affidavits of Mr Ruscoe bearing that date. One is filed in support of the liquidators’ application for directions and the other was filed in support of an interlocutory application for the appointment of counsel assisting, Mr Watts KC, and counsel to represent the interests of the creditors of Cryptopia Ltd, Ms Cooper KC. Both affidavits are publicly available and have been for some time on the liquidators’ Cryptopia website.

[6]For these reasons, the liquidators oppose the application for access.

Further context

[7]                 In addition to filing the notice of application for access, the applicant has sent a series of emails to the registries of the High Court at Wellington and Christchurch.

[8]                 Dr Sharma’s email of 5 May 2025 records that he has faced “significant barriers” accessing the material he seeks, “including information related to a serious privacy breach involving my transaction records”. This appears to be a reference to Mr Victor Cattermole’s efforts to obtain and misuse the confidential information in the exhibit the applicant now also seeks. The applicant went on to say that he seeks “the court’s immediate intervention to address these issues and ensure compliance with legal obligations”.

[9]                 On  30 May 2025  a  member  of  the  Wellington  Registry  responded  to   Dr Sharma and identified himself as the relevant case manager. The Registrar sought further information from Dr Sharma so he could identify the relevant case files to which the request related.

[10]             In a response the same day Dr Sharma said the Privacy Commissioner “goes around in circles” and that the liquidators “have lied to us and refused to provide [exhibit] DIR2”. Later the applicant sent the following series of emails to the Registrar:

Fri, 30 May 2025 at 12:53 PM, S C Sharma wrote:

Also under the whistleblower act

If you are seeing anything dodgy happen Please email [redacted]

They can’t pay you but I think they will donate 10 bitcoin to any wallet of the whistleblower’s choice.2

Thanks Sam

Fri, 30 May 2025 at 12:54 PM, S C Sharma wrote:

Whoops

I’m Vihang, you are Sam!! Too much coffee sorry about that.

Fri, 30 May 2025 at 2:57, S C Sharma wrote:

Sam the meeting minutes

This is where Judge Isaacs has a secret teleconference and the liquidator yet again is in contempt of court and doesn’t abide by the order by putting up documents

Can you please explain how does one get minutes.

It’s actually ridiculous because we are sharing it in our private discord group but the High Courts are hiding things from the account holders eyes!

It’s not published on NZLii either. Very worrying

2      This would amount to a payment worth approximately NZD $2 million. Who the “they” are is not disclosed in the applicant’s email.

[11]             In summary, in addition to a conventional request for access to Court documents the applicant has:

(a)offered to arrange an unlawful payment of bitcoin to a member of the Court Registry in return for information;

(b)provided a different email address for what appears to be a “private” response from the Registrar;

(c)falsely claimed I have conducted a “secret teleconference”; and

(d)suggests the applicant and others are sharing Court documents in a private discord group.

[12]             Given the applicant’s improper attempt to solicit information from a Court officer I am satisfied the request for access to Court documents is an abuse of process.3 The party lodging the request has not provided proof of their identity. They claim to be resident overseas.4 And as the premise of the application is the applicant’s desire to be repatriated with an account held by Cryptopia, given the liquidators have an identification process available to the applicant it is unclear why he should need access to Court documents to establish his interest in the relevant account. That information should already be available to him.

Conclusion and result

[13]The application is dismissed as an abuse of process.

3      The Court has the power to strike out proceedings as an abuse of process, whether or not an application has been made, under r 15.1 of the High Court Rules 2016. It may also do so under the inherent power. The underlying purpose of the jurisdiction is the maintenance of public confidence in the Court’s processes: see Moevao v Department of Labour [1980] 1 NZLR 464 (CA) at 482.

4      It is also unclear why the applicant also seeks disclosure of transcripts of the public hearing against Mr Cattermole for contempt of Court conducted in August 2024. No explanation has been provided for the applicant’s interest in that proceeding or its connection to his claimed ownership of a Cryptopia wallet.

[14]             Unless the applicant provides satisfactory independent verification of his identity, current residential address and his interest in this proceeding, the Registry is not to respond to further communications from him. Any materials provided by the applicant to address these requirements are to be referred to me for consideration.

Isac J

Solicitors:
Buddle Findlay, Wellington for Liquidators