GEORGIOS BAIZANIS v SNAP INNOVATIONS PTE. LTD. & Anor

Case Significance

Baizanis, Georgios v Snap Innovations Pte Ltd and another [2024] SGHC 200 was a decision of the General Division of the High Court delivered by Christopher Tan JC on 2 August 2024, in Suit No 296 of 2021, following hearings between November 2023 and February 2024. It concerned breach of contract, an agent's implied authority, a principal's tortious liability to third parties, and questions of admissibility and onus of proof. The plaintiff, Georgios Baizanis, was represented by David Ong & Co.; the first defendant, Snap Innovations Pte Ltd, by Lee & Lee; and the second defendant, Bernard Ong (Ong Hock Fong), by Sanders Law LLC.

The judgment recorded that the plaintiff was a cryptocurrency investor and that the first defendant was a company providing information technology and computer-related services focused on solutions for brokers and traders, whose sole shareholder was Dr Ting Shang Ping. The second defendant, Bernard Ong, was reflected on the first defendant's website as a director although he was not registered as such with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). The case arose from the plaintiff's investment in a scheme known as "Cryptotrage", involving arbitrage trading in cryptocurrencies on the Binance Exchange, which the plaintiff said the first defendant operated through its employees in Vietnam, into whose Binance accounts he said he deposited cryptocurrencies.