Sam Lee detained in Dubai on Interpol arrest warrant
Sam Lee, aka Xue Samuel Lee, has been detained at Dubai’s Al Aweer Central Prison.
During his ongoing detainment, the SEC managed to serve Lee their civil HyperFund fraud lawsuit.
As per November 5th filings from the SEC, Lee refused personal service at the prison but was considered served under US law.
A local process server hired by the DOJ’s civil division served Lee. As per a filed exhibit from the SEC’s Dubai law firm;
On 10 October 2024, Hadef & Partners LLC were made aware that Mr. Lee had been detained by authorities in the UAE in connection with an Interpol Red Notice issued against him at the Central Prison located in Al Aweer, Dubai.
On 17 October 2024 [an] Officer … attempted to hand the relevant documents to Mr. Lee who refused to accept the same.
Under UAE law individuals in custody can be served by leaving relevant papers with the administration of the facility they are being held at.
As supporting evidence Lee was aware of the lawsuit, the SEC also cites a February 1st, 2024 paywalled article from the Australian Financial Review.
In the article Lee refers to the civil and criminal fraud charges filed against him as “embarrassing”.
At time of publication it remains unclear on who the issuing country is for Lee’s Interpol Red Notice warrant.
A search of Interpol’s website for Lee under multiple versions of his name and aliases fails to return any red notice results.
That said, Lee’s indictment in the US is the only known criminal action he is facing. The US however does not have an extradition treaty with the UAE.
At time of publication there were no updates on Lee’s US criminal case docket reflecting his Dubai detainment.
Lee is an Australian citizen. While we don’t know if Australian authorities have filed a criminal case against Lee, Australia does have an extradition treaty with Dubai.
Alongside co-conspirators Brenda Chunga and Rodney Burton, Lee was indicted on HyperFund related fraud charges in January 2024.
The DOJ alleged HyperFund was a $1.8 billion Ponzi scheme. This tracks with BehindMLM’s HyperFund review, published in 2021.
Pending any further updates on Lee’s Interpol red notice, we’ll keep you posted.
Update 8th December 2024 – Sam Lee has purportedly been released. As per a December 5th Bloomberg article covering fraud in Dubai;
The day after this story was published in early December, Lee contacted Businessweek to say he’d just been released.
He said he’d surrendered himself willingly when he learned an Interpol Red Notice had been issued for his arrest, and that he was working to clear himself of the charges—and would resume his work on crypto ventures, too.
“It’s business as usual,” he said.
Lee doesn’t appear to have disclosed the nature of the charges to Businessweek (Bloomberg).
And Ryan Xu is still in the wind… no mentions of him anywhere, not in any of the proceedings against Lee, no Interpol notices (well, published ones) either. Curious.
There is a man named Rory Conacher (in south africa) who is supposedly working with a law firm in Dubai to sue Sam Lee.
He asked the victims of Sam lee’s ponzi scheme for $15 months ago to build a case. Rory process is still ongoing. Might be another scam to look into.
Rory’s youtube channel.
youtube.com/@RoryConacher
A civil suit against Lee filed in Dubai isn’t going to go anywhere.
On November 27, 2024, the SEC has applied for a default judgement against Sam Lee as he hasn’t filed any responsive pleading since being served on Oct 17, 2024.
ecf.mdd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/DktRpt.pl?552894
Thanks. Saw that, waiting for a decision before publishing.
Article updated to note Lee has been released. Nature of charges still unknown.
On Dec 6th, the court granted the SEC’s application for default.
ecf.mdd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/DktRpt.pl?552894
Lee has 30 days to respond.
Businessweek updated their story on Dec 6th. They seemingly know the SEC has brought a case against Lee.
Frustrating that SEC’s legal representative in Dubai and process server didn’t reveal the details of Lee’s imprisonment to the SEC (and to the court, or maybe they did and that detail was withheld from the public record???)
Entry of default. Paves the way for a motion for default judgment later.
The SEC’s legal representatives in Dubai wouldn’t have access to an Interpol red notice. Neither would Lee.
By “surrendered himself” Lee likely means he came quietly when police knocked on his door. Not like he had a choice, or he wouldn’t have spent months detained in prison.
I suspect US authorities, or at least the DOJ, are aware of the nature of Lee’s Interpol warrant. It’s unlikely any authority is going to confirm anything until Lee is out of the UAE.
The DOJ filed a superseding indictment against Lee on December 5th. The indictment further goes into the specifics of the HyperFund fraud (all stuff we already knew but wasn’t in the original indictment).
The DOJ has pegged HyperFund losses at $1.89 billion. The two charges against Lee, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, remain the same.
“The DOJ filed a superseding indictment against Lee on December 5th.”
Gotta link, please???
Never mind… found it.
I don’t see new details in the superceding indictment. It seems they separated the conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud into separate counts. They broke out wire fraud from the original single count 1 against Lee and it became Count 2 against Lee in the superceding indictment, with Count 1 becoming just securities fraud.
But it is encouraging to see activity.
I would *guess* the next step would be a warrant for Lee’s arrest. That would probably also involve extradition. But if Lee has some un-met financial obligations in Dubai, extradition could get complicated, especially since the USA doesn’t have an extradition treaty with UAE.
Thanks for the infomation , hopefully they’re closer to justice.