Three Arrows' liquidators jailed founder Su Zhu after a year of ignored court orders

Three Arrows Capital, once one of Asia's largest crypto hedge funds, collapsed in June 2022 owing creditors roughly US$3 billion. A British Virgin Islands court appointed advisory firm Teneo as liquidator, with Russell Crumpler and Christopher Farmer running the wind-down. Their problem was not only a wrecked balance sheet: founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies would not answer questions or hand over records, and their lawyers dismissed the American court orders as 'baseless' and claimed the US had no jurisdiction over them.

Recovery moved only when courts applied pressure. Judge Martin Glenn let the liquidators serve Davies his subpoena by Twitter; after about five months of silence they asked a New York court to fine him US$10,000 a day. In September 2023 the Monetary Authority of Singapore issued nine-year prohibition orders against both men. Days later Singapore courts granted committal orders — four months' prison for Zhu, a matching order for Davies — and liquidators who had been watching Zhu's mansion tracked a car to Changi Airport and tipped off police, who arrested him there on September 29, 2023.

Alongside the enforcement, the liquidators filed to recover US$1.3 billion from the two founders for losses and transfers in the fund's final months. Teneo's filings were blunt: in a sworn statement Crumpler wrote that Davies' public comments showed 'no remorse' and confirmed his 'disregard for court orders'.

Creditors owed about $3B; liquidators seek $1.3B from the founders; Zhu served 4 months in prison; both banned for 9 years

The founders treated the winding-up as optional: months of ignoring a subpoena forced the liquidators into improvised enforcement — service by Twitter and a per-day fine.

Without the founders' records, the liquidators could not properly map what remained of the estate, which is why their ability to unwind the fund was described as impeded.

Personal consequences arrived sideways — contempt sentences and regulator bans — rather than through the fund's own paperwork, which had never pinned repayment obligations on individuals.

Assets had already moved out of reach: liquidators later had to sue Zhu's wife over a Dubai villa allegedly gifted without payment.

Bankruptcy doesn't end founders' duties, yet accountability moved only through committal orders and regulator bans. Lenders who skip documents and asset freezes chase money that has already moved.

Zhu served his four-month sentence in Changi Prison, and the liquidators said they would seek permission to interview him there about 3AC's assets; Davies stayed out of reach. The fight over money is still running: in 2026 the liquidators sued Zhu's wife, Evelyn Tao, for the proceeds of a Dubai villa sold in January 2024 for about AED146 million (around US$40 million), alleging Zhu had gifted it to her without payment to put it beyond creditors — a claim she contests.