In response to the Statements of Defense filed by Christian Saucier, David McFadzean, Bart de Groot, Abdelaziz Oulad Hadj, and others in Court File No. CV-21-00654929-0000, Equibit Group Ltd., Chris Horlacher delivered a detailed reply rejecting the defenses and reinforcing the original claims.

Background

In January 2021, Equibit commenced legal action against former senior employees and certain investors for breach of fiduciary duty, misappropriation of company property, bad faith conduct, and libel. The claim alleges that internal sabotage and public defamation campaigns contributed significantly to the company’s collapse.

Key Points in the Defendants’ Defenses

The defendants largely denied the allegations. Notable positions include:

• Claims that defamatory statements were made in good faith and were “substantially true”
• Assertions that the Equibit software was open-source under the MIT license and that no fixed seed node was required for the network
• Portrayals of certain defendants as unsophisticated investors who lost life savings
• Denial of knowledge regarding many of the serious allegations

Equibit’s Reply: No Evidence, Contradicted Claims

In its reply, Equibit strongly contests these positions and notes the striking lack of supporting evidence from the defendants. Key rebuttals include:

• High-Risk Nature Clearly Disclosed: All investors, including Bart de Groot and Abdelaziz Oulad Hadj, signed Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) that explicitly warned of the substantial risks involved in the project. Claims of being misled are contradicted by the signed documents.
• Financial Transparency: Equibit’s financial records were regularly reviewed by external Chartered Accountants, and audited by both the Canada Revenue Agency and the Ontario Securities Commission. No evidence of personal misuse of funds has been presented.
• Technical and Operational Reality: The defense arguments regarding the network infrastructure and post-departure actions are inconsistent with internal records, code history, and the actual events surrounding the mainnet launch and subsequent collapse.
• GitHub Activity: Public records show former insiders actively forking Equibit’s repositories, rebranding the project (OCEAN → Tesseract), and continuing development shortly after departure — actions that support the plaintiffs’ allegations of misappropriation and competing activities.

The reply emphasizes that while the defendants make serious counter-allegations and denials, they have failed to produce meaningful documentary evidence to support their version of events.

Ongoing Significance

This lawsuit represents the internal betrayal and defamation front of what plaintiffs describe as the broader “Assassination of Equibit.” It runs parallel to the larger action involving alleged intelligence agency involvement and technical sabotage.The case continues in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. As discoveries proceed, further evidence is expected to come to light.

Read the full Reply:

The public documentation of this case continues to grow. We believe transparency and primary evidence are the most effective tools for accountability.

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