Miles Guo Court Documents · Doc 872
Notice filed for authenticated Himalaya Exchange customer-claimants asking that the proposed Government–Chapter 11 Trustee settlement — which divides assets into "Estate" and "Forfeiture" categories — be placed on the criminal docket and referred to the forthcoming Special Master, and that any bankruptcy approval not prejudice their § 853(n) claims to HEX customer funds.
摘要
Notice · Government–Trustee Settlement Should Be Resolved on the Criminal Docket
A 13-page Notice filed on August 28, 2026 in United States v. Ho Wan Kwok, Kin Ming Je and Yanping Wang, 23 Cr. 118 (AT) (S.D.N.Y.), by Bradford L. Geyer of FormerFedsGroup.Com LLC, counsel for authenticated Himalaya Exchange ("HEX") customers and third-party claimants previously identified to the court. A footnote limits the filing's scope: counsel represents only those HEX members who retained him and whose identities and balances were authenticated through HEX records and HID matching, and does not purport to speak for every HEX member or for the defendants.
The proposed agreement
On or about August 18, 2026 the Chapter 11 Trustee, Luc A. Despins, moved in In re Ho Wan Kwok, No. 22-50073 (JAM) (Bankr. D. Conn.) under 11 U.S.C. § 363 and Bankruptcy Rule 9019 for approval of a settlement with the United States dated July 30, 2026 (Bankr. ECF No. 5739). A hearing was convened on August 25, 2026.
The notice describes the agreement as drawing a line between two categories rather than merely dividing cash:
- "Estate Assets" (Schedule 1) — hundreds of adversary proceedings, cash recoveries of approximately $152.7 million, and foreign proceedings;
- "Forfeiture Assets" — the property listed in ECF No. 720, ECF No. 790-1, and the Wang forfeiture order.
Its operative terms, as summarized: the Trustee covenants not to contest forfeiture of the Forfeiture Assets or their distribution to victims (¶ K); the Government covenants not to forfeit the Estate Assets, with the Trustee preserving alter-ego and avoidance theories against them (¶ L); net proceeds of the Mahwah Property — itself Specific Property at ECF No. 720 item v — are split evenly after deductions that include Trustee legal fees (¶ M); $2,540,087.05 of Mountains of Spices funds transfers to the Trustee as an Estate Asset (¶ O); and unidentified "Non-Scheduled Assets" go to whichever party first commences a proceeding (¶ P). Paragraph S purports to bind anyone later obtaining possession or control of either category; paragraph T disclaims third-party beneficiaries.
The notice records that public reporting describes the split as the Trustee retaining more than $170 million recovered for the estate while the Government retains approximately $642 million seized in connection with the indictment — a figure corresponding to the bank-account Specific Property listed in ECF No. 720, later treated as forfeitable in connection with an $889 million money judgment (ECF No. 858).
The claimants' position
The claimants state they do not appear to litigate the bankruptcy case. Their objection is jurisdictional in placement: the agreement purports to allocate funds that include, or are traceable to, HEX customer reserves seized in this criminal proceeding — funds already identified as Specific Property in the preliminary forfeiture orders and already the subject of third-party petitions, Rule 41(g) applications and related filings on this docket. A private allocation of those funds between the Government and the Trustee, they argue, belongs on the criminal docket and should be resolved in the first instance by the Special Master the court has indicated it will appoint.
A separate section addresses a $37 million HIFG–HK USA loan, which the notice contends is traceable to listed HEX property and reached by the forfeiture order. A final section preserves the claimants' continuing objection to the seizures on jurisdictional grounds.
Relief requested
The notice asks the court to take judicial notice of the Trustee's motion and the August 25 hearing; to direct the Government to file the Proposed Agreement, Schedule 1, any term sheet and any implementing stipulation on the criminal docket so the allocation is of record; to refer the agreement — including its treatment of ECF No. 720 items i, j, l, n, o, r and s, of the $37 million loan proceeds, and of property reached by the order's "traceable to," § 853(p) and Rule 32.2(e) catchalls — to the Special Master together with the pending ancillary petitions; to hold that any bankruptcy approval shall not adjudicate, release, subordinate, extinguish or otherwise prejudice the claimants' asserted interests in HEX customer funds pending determination under § 853(n) and Rule 32.2(c); and to note the preserved jurisdictional objections.