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Freedom Convoy Asset Freeze Overview:
- Who: A private class action lawsuit filed by a group of Ottawa residents successfully froze the financial assets, including crypto wallets, of key Freedom Convoy organizers.
- Why: Residents filed the class action lawsuit in a bid to obtain a Mareva injunction against key Freedom Convoy organizers, including Chris Barber and Tamara Lich.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Ontario Superior Court.
A group of Ottawa residents were able to successfully freeze as many as 146 crypto wallets and bank assets funding the organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” through a private class action lawsuit.
The complaint successfully sought to obtain a Mareva injunction against the key organizers of the Freedom Convoy, Fortune reports, in a bid to stop funding for a protest which effectively took over Ottawa’s city center for 24 days.
The Freedom Convoy initially began as a group of truckers protesting against COVID-19 vaccination requirements before eventually evolving into a larger demonstration against pandemic restrictions in general.
The protest, which attracted thousands of demonstrators at its peak, ultimately caused Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson to declare a state of emergency last week in an attempt to obtain more help from the government in quelling the protest.
In granting the Mareva injunction, an Ontario Superior Court judge kept the defendants and their affiliates from being allowed to move either fiat or cryptocurrency assets between bank accounts or crypto wallets mentioned in the lawsuit.
The move successfully froze millions of dollars in assets which the organizers had been using to help fund the Freedom Convoy, The Globe and Mail reports.
The injunction was granted three days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act for the first time in Canada’s history in an attempt to help put an end to the protest, Fortune reports.
The lawsuit, which was brought by Ottawa residents Zexi Li, Geoffrey Devaney and the Happy Goat Coffee Business, became the first time in Canada that a Mareva injunction was used to freeze cryptocurrency, Fortune reports.
If organizers, including Chris Barber, Benjamin Dichter, Tamara Lich and Nicholas St. Louis, disobey the order, they would be subject to disciplinary action such as jail time, asset seizure or fines.
Injunction Sought To Keep Protestors From Blaring Truck Horns
Earlier this month, Li obtained a separate injunction against the Freedom Convoy for blaring their truck horns after she filed a class action lawsuit accusing protestors of violating the rights of local residents by incessantly honking them.
Li’s complaint, which originally was asking for $9.8 million in damages, has grown to $306 million after 31 new defendants were added last week and more plaintiffs were added.
The latest injunction, meanwhile, came as police stepped up efforts to clear the protestors out of Ottawa’s capital, following more than three weeks of demonstrations which cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars each day.
Since Friday, Ottawa police have reportedly been able to remove all the vehicles from the area and are in the process of separating the last of the demonstrators, with a total of 191 arrests and 57 vehicles towed, the New York Post reports.
The arrested include several of the key Freedom Convoy organizers, including Barber and Lich, who were both charged with mischief, Fortune reports.
Earlier this month, the U.S. government urged the Canadian government to act to put an end to the protest, as truckers blocked key border routes into the US, damaging the economy.
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