- Burwick Law seeks to serve Dubai-based defendant Peter McInnes with an NFT as part of a lawsuit over a $440 million crypto Ponzi scheme.
- The law firm argues that serving via NFT is effective because the alleged scheme relied on social media and NFTs.
- McInnes allegedly used his Banksy art collection and high-value cars to attract investments while managing related firms.
- The case centers on unregistered securities claims, not fraud, and follows recent legal precedents for NFT-based court notifications.
Burwick Law has filed a lawsuit accusing Peter McInnes, also known as “Paddy,” of being involved in a $440 million crypto Ponzi scheme. The law firm is asking the court to allow service of legal papers via an NFT since McInnes, now in Dubai as a property developer, is hard to reach through traditional means. The complaint was filed in December and names seven defendants.
Earlier this month, Burwick Law requested permission to serve six of these defendants using NFT technology, citing difficulties in contacting them by standard methods. According to information reported by The Times, McInnes has recently promoted a venture selling Banksy artwork in Dubai. The law firm identified McInnes as the director of a UK-based firm, but determined that serving documents to a UK address would be ineffective since he resides in Dubai.
Court documents state that serving the complaint by airdropping an NFT—a digital asset attached to blockchain technology, often representing art or other digital content—was appropriate. The firm referenced the scheme’s heavy use of social media and NFT sales in their filing. They also noted a prior case in Florida in which a judge approved NFT-based legal service against a Hacker involved in a $1 million cryptocurrency theft.
The lawsuit claims that more than $450 million in investor funds were routed through two schemes over a single year. The first, TradeAI, promised high returns via crypto investment pools. TradeAI collapsed, locking out investors, before the firm rebranded as Stakx and collected further investments from the original victims.
According to court filings and reports from The Times, McInnes later established UA3, presented as a company aimed at recovering losses from TradeAI. Before a distribution to investors was to take place, McInnes filmed himself recovering from a heart attack in a Costa Rica mansion. He also promoted an investment syndicate, the so-called Stakx “Paddy syndicate,” which allegedly claimed to be backed by Banksy art and $20 million in luxury cars.
Beyond the crypto allegations, McInnes was previously linked to a $247 million real estate project in Liverpool. That project entered insolvency and McInnes was later accused of money laundering, an accusation he called “misleading and untrue.”
McInnes’ representative claims he owns the Banksy artwork, denies knowledge of the legal proceedings, and rejects ties to TradeAI or UA3. The firm asserts that he did not benefit financially from Stakx. Notably, Burwick Law is not pursuing fraud charges but alleges violations related to unregistered securities, similar to actions it has taken against other crypto platforms.
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