Three Arrows Capital Co-Founder’s Wife Sells Singapore Mansion for $38.5 Million Amid Asset Freeze

TLDR:

• Zhu Su’s wife sold Singapore mansion for $38.5M despite asset freeze
• Property was bought for $20.63M in 2020, sold in October 2024
• Three Arrows Capital collapsed in 2022 after bad crypto market bets
• Company owes creditors $3.3 billion
• Other assets worth $1.14B remain frozen by court order

Tao Yaqiong, wife of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) co-founder Zhu Su, has sold a luxury mansion in Singapore for S$51 million ($38.5 million), completing the transaction despite a court-ordered freeze on some of the couple’s assets.

The property sale, initiated in July and finalized in October 2024, involves a good class bungalow located near the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The mansion, situated on Dalvey Road, spans 1,446 square meters (15,568 square feet) of land.

Property records show that Tao, also known as Evelyn, purchased the house in 2020 for S$28.5 million and undertook redevelopment work before the sale. The buyer has been identified as Chrispianto Karim, a Singapore citizen reportedly connected to the Indonesian Karim family, which controls the palm oil conglomerate Musim Mas Group.

The wife of Zhu Su, the co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, has managed to sell a mansion she owns in Singapore for $38.5 million, despite a court-imposed freeze against some of the couple’s other assets. https://t.co/fHRj3fAjdA

— Bloomberg (@business) November 2, 2024

The sale comes against the backdrop of ongoing legal and financial troubles faced by Three Arrows Capital and its founders. The cryptocurrency hedge fund, once among the world’s largest, collapsed in 2022 following a series of unsuccessful investments during a broader crypto market downturn.

Before the fund’s collapse, Zhu had publicly boasted about plans to purchase multiple good class bungalows in Singapore. His social media activity included statements about “buying all the good class bungalows in Singapore” with intentions to convert them into parks and regenerative farming spaces.

The company’s downfall led to strict regulatory action in Singapore. In 2023, local financial authorities imposed nine-year bans on both Zhu and his co-founder Kyle Davies, preventing them from conducting regulated financial activities in the city-state.

Zhu faced additional legal consequences, serving a brief jail term in 2023 for failing to cooperate with Three Arrows Capital’s liquidation process. The fund’s liquidators, Teneo, successfully obtained a worldwide freeze on assets worth $1.14 billion belonging to Zhu, Davies, and Davies’ wife Kelly Chen.

The asset freeze covers several properties, including another mansion owned by Zhu and his wife on Yarwood Avenue. This property, purchased for S$48.8 million in late 2021 under their role as trustees, remains subject to the disposal ban along with a smaller house owned by Zhu on Balmoral Road.

According to Teneo, Three Arrows Capital’s creditors are owed approximately $3.3 billion. The liquidators argue that the fund’s founders should be held responsible for its financial collapse.

The recent property sale demonstrates the complex nature of asset recovery in crypto-related bankruptcies. While some assets remain frozen under court order, others, like the Dalvey Road mansion, have been successfully sold.

Three Arrows Capital’s history dates back to 2012 when Zhu and Davies established the fund. At its peak, the company managed over $18 billion in assets, with investments spread across various cryptocurrencies including Solana, Ethereum, Avalanche, Polkadot, and WorldCoin.

The fund’s strategy relied heavily on leveraged cryptocurrency investments. This approach proved unsustainable during the crypto market downturn of 2022, leading to the company’s filing for Chapter 15 bankruptcy to protect itself from U.S. creditors.

CNBC has described Three Arrows Capital as one of the most notable casualties of the “crypto winter,” a prolonged period of declining cryptocurrency prices that erased billions in digital asset value.

The liquidation process continues under Teneo’s supervision, with the company working to recover assets for creditors. The liquidators maintain that Zhu and Davies bear responsibility for Three Arrows Capital’s deteriorating financial state.