KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has ordered the government to return 497.82 bitcoin, valued at US$17.6 million based on 2023 valuations, to nine people who were cheated in an investment scheme promising daily returns of 1%.
The bitcoin was seized from two cryptocurrency wallets linked to Fadino Khairuman and Asyran Ismail.
Justice Arief Emran Arifin allowed the claims by the nine individuals, who deposited a total of 362.04 bitcoin into a wallet belonging to Bitkingdom between 2015 and 2016 after being misled by Fadino.
The bitcoin was subsequently transferred from the Bitkingdom wallet to wallets belonging to Fadino and Asyran.
Arief found that the nine had proven they were cheated by the two men, who made false representations about the promised daily returns.
He said the bitcoin had gone through a "layering process" as a result of the transactions.
"The claimants did not lend their bitcoin to the respondents, and they are not asserting a debt," he said.
"They are saying that the bitcoin was obtained from them by cheating, and that the bitcoin, or what now stands in its place, is still theirs."
He said each claimant had proven on a balance of probabilities that he or she deposited the amount of bitcoin claimed into Bitkingdom, and had a legitimate legal interest in the seized property.
The court also ordered that the 497.82 bitcoin be distributed among the nine, with each receiving between 0.68% and 11.7% of the total, in proportion to what they deposited.
The claimants are Afkar Lotfi Adam, Alfiyanora Nursal, Faridah Rawi, Khairullutfi Nursal, Alif Bassari, Nazlulfarid Ramlan, Nurafiqah Che Azmi, Siti Farhana Mohamed and Khizanif Khizan.