CL-2018-000297, CL-2018-000404, CL-2018-000590, - [2025] EWHC 2364 (Comm)

As regards the USPFs and LabCos, I was not persuaded by the evidence at trial that they acted fraudulently. Firstly, I would not have found that they were told, or otherwise realised, that Solo’s method did not involve any shareholdings ever being acquired. Among the trial defendants, the only individuals whose knowledge or understanding was that of any of the USPFs or LabCos were Messrs Godson and Fletcher (USPFs), and Messrs Jain and Preston (LabCos). In their cases, my positive finding is that they did not know or understand that the Solo Model was a share-less settlement model. As stated in the main part of this judgment (paragraphs 145 to 147), I do not accept the evidence of Mr Horn that the Argre Principals knew of the synthetic nature of the settlement model and consider it much more likely that, since they did not need to know, they were not told, in line with Mr Shah’s general and keen desire to keep secret that which could be kept secret about how the Solo Model worked.