Demonstration in Ottawa | A civil law “nuclear bomb” to freeze organizers’ assets

The Ontario Superior Court ordered the freezing of assets totaling $20 million belonging to the organizers of the “freedom convoy” in a Mareva-style injunction, a procedure dubbed the “nuclear bomb” of civil law. Montrealer Francis Pouliot, a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency industry, is personally targeted by this order.

Tristan Peloquin
The Press

The freezing of bank accounts and other assets, including cryptocurrency, belonging to organizers Tamara Lich, Pat King, Chris Barber and around 60 others has been ordered in a $305 million class action lawsuit filed by merchants and residents of Ottawa upset by the blockade.

The Ontario court specifically prohibits those subject to the order from “selling, moving, dissipating, alienating, transferring” sums totaling $20 million, or even “advising, asking or encouraging” anyone to do so. They have seven days to produce an affidavit detailing the amounts they hold, failing which they “could be held in contempt of court and be imprisoned, fined, or have their assets seized”, writes Justice Calum MacLeod.

The order targets in particular the TD Canada Trust Bank, the crowdfunding platforms GoFundMe and GiveSendGo, which have both raised around 10 million in public donations to support truckers, as well as several cryptocurrency exchange sites, active on which Convoy organizers fell back when their accounts were seized or frozen.

“Cryptocurrency holders must go through these exchanges to convert their currencies into cash. These sites are regulated, and we expect them to obey the order if they don’t want to be held in contempt of court,” said lawyer Monique Jilesen, of the Toronto law firm Lenczner Slaght, who pleaded the cause on behalf of the citizens and merchants who launched the class action.

A Montrealer targeted by the court order

Montrealer Francis Pouliot, CEO of the Bull Bitcoin, Bylls and Satochi Portal exchange platforms, is personally targeted by the court order. Its companies are required to enforce it, but the court decision does not specify how or to what extent.

Mr. Pouliot, that The Press tried unsuccessfully to join on Friday, notably founded the digital asset audit firm Cattalaxy, now owned by the accounting firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. Its cryptocurrency exchange platforms, headquartered on rue Saint-Jacques, in Montreal, are officially registered as an accredited provider on the FINTRAC registry of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada (FINTRAC), whose mission is to detect, prevent and deter money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities. Mr. Pouliot also presented himself as the candidate of the Libertarian Party in Outremont in 2015.

The “nuclear bomb” of civil law

Mareva-type injunctions are an extraordinary remedy under civil law and common law aimed at freezing assets before the court has ruled on the merits of a case. “It is imperative to demonstrate before the judge that there is a significant risk that the assets could disappear if the order is not pronounced”, explains lawyer Dominique Ménard, specialist in injunctions at LCM Avocats. In most cases, the motion is pleaded ex parte – without the defendants being informed – to prevent them from squandering the targeted asset.

“The order is not just about these individual accounts. It includes them, but is not limited to them. That’s why we say it’s really a nuclear bomb of the law, comments the lawyer. The difficulty is the ability to fill the order. The challenge is to serve the right people, in time, before the money is gone. It’s really the part that worries us the most when we make a Mareva,” she confides.