RAJAH & Tann partner Danny Ong, a dispute resolutions specialist, is leaving the firm and starting his own practice this month, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The veteran lawyer will be bringing around 10 lawyers from Rajah & Tann to his new firm, Setia Law, which will specialise in dispute resolution, fraud and financial crimes, as well as debt restructuring and insolvency, particularly in the digital asset space.
One of the high-profile clients Ong represented during his 15 years at Rajah & Tann was B2C2 – a liquidity provider for digital assets based in the United Kingdom.
He was also involved in the liquidation of Cryptopia – a New Zealand-based crypto exchange – and is currently acting in a US$65 million representative lawsuit brought by over 300 claimants against cryptocurrency startup Terraform Labs, Luna Foundation and its co-founder Do Kwon.
A source who has worked with Ong for over four years described him as someone who is “always thinking of the next step”, and as a team leader who is mindful that those who work under him have lives outside of work.
Legal action within the digital asset space is on the rise, and Singapore’s courts have become an important arena.
South-east Asia-focused cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex has filed for bankruptcy in Singapore. Its scheme of arrangement was approved in court this week.
Defi Payments, a unit of crypto lender Vauld, also applied for and received, in Singapore’s courts, temporary protection from creditors.
Hodlnaut, a crypto borrowing and lending platform, is undergoing a Singapore court-supervised restructuring.
Another crypto lender, Babel Holding, filed an application for a moratorium here in March.