A law firm and its associated corporate services provider made claims in the Supreme Court for almost $400,000 in fees allegedly unpaid by a group of Arbitrade companies.

Writs issued by Trott & Duncan Ltd said bills were not settled for various legal work nor for tasks performed by Trocan Management Ltd.

The law firm was named as the plaintiff in one claim, lodged in the court’s civil jurisdiction in March and later published on the OffshoreAlert website, where defendants were listed as Arbitrade Ltd, Arbitrade Property Holdings Ltd and Arbitrade Properties (Victoria Hall) Ltd.

Arbitrade, which previously called itself a cryptocurrency exchange and mining company, announced plans in 2018 to create hundreds of jobs in Bermuda.

It was revealed later that year that the company had acquired the Victoria Hall office building for its world headquarters after an amalgamation with an island entity.

The Trott & Duncan writ claimed that “at all material times” Arbitrade owned 100 per cent of the shares in Arbitrade Property Holdings, which in turn owned all of the shares in the third defendant – Arbitrade Properties (Victoria Hall).

It added: “The third defendant owns the property Victoria Hall Building, located at 11 Victoria Street, Hamilton, Bermuda.”

The writ said Trott & Duncan performed legal work for Arbitrade Properties (Victoria Hall) at its request.

Under “particulars”, it added: “On or about June 6, 2018 to October 25, 2022 professional charges and disbursements for work carried out on behalf of and at the request of the third defendant … as its barristers and attorneys and more particularly set out in the bill for professional services delivered to the third defendant on October 31, 2022.”

The writ claimed that the law firm performed legal work for Arbitrade, at its request, such as general and corporate advice, as well as “to acquire a Digital Assets Business Act licence” and “to provide employment and consultancy agreements”.

It said bills for the work were delivered on four dates from March 31, 2019 to January 9, 2023.

The writ alleged: “Although requested to do so, the first and third defendants have not paid to the plaintiff the said money or fees or any part thereof.”

Trott & Duncan claimed for $370,727.75 plus interest.

Another writ filed on the same date – March 27 – named Trocan Management, a corporate services company associated with the law firm, as the plaintiff, and said that it was “licensed to provide corporate services in the islands of Bermuda by the Bermuda Monetary Authority”.

Arbitrade Exchange Ltd was named as a fourth defendant alongside the three that were also listed in the Trott & Duncan claim.

The writ said that all four retained Trocan Management to carry out corporate services that were detailed in bills issued to the companies.

It added that requests for payment were made on three dates from December 11, 2019 to March 17, 2023.

The writ claimed that the Arbitrade companies had not paid the money to Trocan Management, which sought $28,087 plus interest.

Trott & Duncan was contacted for comment but none was received by the time of publication.

E-mails were sent to addresses understood to be those of Jason Springett and John Macneil – listed as directors of Arbitrade, Arbitrade Property Holdings, and Arbitrade Properties (Victoria Hall) on the Bermuda Registrar of Companies, with addresses in Ontario and New York, respectively – but no response was received by press time.

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