Police raid envion AG ex-CEO Matthias Woestmann and lawyer Thomas van Aubel's offices, investigate criminal activity related to illegal takeover (FOTO)

Berlin (ots) -

Property belonging to envion AG's former CEO Matthias Woestmann
and the law offices of Berlin lawyer Thomas van Aubel (Van Aubel &
Partner Attorneys at Law) were subject to surprise raids by Berlin
police, according to an article published online today by German
business magazine CAPITAL. Investigators seized documents and hard
drives from the premises after prosecutors ordered raids at multiple
locations connected to an illegal scheme which led to the collapse of
the Swiss cryptocurrency mining company. State prosecutors have been
investigating van Aubel and Woestmann for some time after their
illicit takeover and subsequent cover-up caused a scandal in the
blockchain world. Berlin's state prosecutor confirmed the raids with
the journalist from Capital.

Envion made headlines in 2018 after raising $100 million in an
initial coin offering (ICO) from over 37,000 investors in one of the
most successful fundraising campaigns of all time. Woestmann and his
longtime business partner van Aubel conspired to carry out an illegal
capital raise in the days after the funds were collected which
diluted the majority ownership held by the founders via their company
Trado GmbH. A court injunction won by Trado and founder Michael
Luckow against Woestmann and van Aubel's shareholding companies
blocked the new owners from accessing envion's assets or profiting
from an attempted sale of the company.

The beleaguered ex-CEO and his partner have been on the losing
side of multiple civil cases which determined their activities to be
"immoral and especially reprehensible" as well as the cause of many
millions of dollars in damages to envion's investors and founders.
The raids indicate that Woestmann and van Aubel could now face
criminal charges and possible jail time. Prosecutors did not comment
on specific charges or how long the suspects had been under
surveillance.

Woestmann and van Aubel launched a media campaign to cover up
their activities immediately after news of the illegal capital
increase was made public. Woestmann was featured in German finance
daily Handelsblatt in May of 2018 alleging that envion's founders had
produced more tokens (securities) than was allowed. Documents and an
independent audit supporting his accusations later proved to be
false, but not before media outlets across the globe spread the false
accusations. Nervous investors believed Woestmann's false
statements, leading to lawsuits against Trado GmbH and envion AG for
alleged errors in the company prospectus.

Berlin's regional court subsequently dismissed Woestmann's
allegations that investors had been deceived about the total number
of tokens issued during the ICO and that Trado's role in the company
had been concealed. The court's independent calculations showed that
no unlawful tokens had been produced and that the prospectus would
not have been violated even if too many tokens had been generated,
since unused tokens were to be destroyed. The court added that the
investors' lawyer failed to provide any evidence whatsoever that the
founders connected to Trado GmbH had any intent to defraud investors
at any time and thus failed to meet the minimum requirements for
establishing liability.

Further rulings by both Berlin's District Court and Superior Court
found that the unlawful capital increase and activities perpetrated
by Woestmann and van Aubel via their companies Quadrat Capital GmbH
and Sycamore GmbH exhibited a "special degree of recklessness" that
is "incompatible with the fundamental values of the legal and moral
order." Lawyer Jutta von Falkenhausen is co-CEO of Sycamore GmbH
along with her husband, Thomas van Aubel. Sycamore is envion's
majority shareholder since the illegal dilution, holding 61% of
envion's shares.

Woestmann had already been removed from envion's board of
directors before news of the criminal investigation was made public
when envion was ordered into liquidation by a Swiss court in November
of 2018. He allowed the company to be forced into liquidation after
injunctions and an investigation by the Swiss financial regulator
FINMA stymied his attempts at various profit-making schemes.
Woestmann's willful refusal to engage an auditor left envion in
violation of Swiss law and the company was ordered into liquidation.

Envion's founders, led by Michael Luckow, recently announced the
formation of the Liquidation Upgrade Program (LUP) which will
distribute millions of dollars' worth of claims in the liquidation
and damages lawsuits donated by the founders to token holders. An
independent trustee will distribute money awarded to the founders
during the liquidation for their tokens or shares in envion to token
holders who sign up for the program via the website
www.liquidation-upgrade-program.org. Awards for damages lawsuits
against Woestmann, van Aubel, and their companies could exceed $20
million and will also be donated to LUP members by the founders.
Membership is completely free and open to anyone holding envion
tokens acquired during the ICO or afterwards from cryptocurrency
exchanges.

"Envion's highly motivated team and global community came together
and took the idea from concept to the first steps of mass production
with remarkable speed. We would have liked to continue showing
envion's potential to be a transformative force for positive change,
but our generation's vision for an ecological and decentralized
future was cut short by old-economy tricks," commented Michael Luckow
Trado's CEO and one of the originators of the envion concept. "The
criminal investigation of Matthias Woestmann and Thomas van Aubel is
an important step on the road to justice for the thousands of
investors victimized by their malicious actions. Donating to the
Liquidation Upgrade Program is just one more way we are putting our
words into actions, demonstrating our commitment to justice, and
winning back the trust of the envion community who supported our
vision."

- Picture is available at epa european pressphoto agency
(http://www.epa.eu) -

Media Contact:
NAIMA Strategic Legal Services GmbH
Office Berlin / Uwe Wolff
Phone: +49 30 2404 8290
Email: uwe.wolff@naima-media.de

Original-Content von: NAIMA Strategic Legal Services GmbH, übermittelt durch news aktuell