Scammed by partners. Is there something I can do?
<p>I'll make it as brief as possible. Simply put, I knew this group of people who were building something (it had to do with IT). I knew they'd something, but I also knew they wouldn't get anything done because they're very naive and have zero business sense.</p>
<p>So I offered them to partner with my company to add more tech on top of it and approach some investors I knew. One of these investors was interested and agreed to finance the project. His condition was that he bring some acquaintances on board, which of course we accepted, even though I knew one of these people and knew he was shady as hell. On top of that, they're both lawyers.</p>
<p>So we set up an LLC in Singapore. The investor added capital and some expertise, the group I first contacted added their idea and more work, and I added all my knowledge, as well as my entire team, offices, equipment, etc. I was then also appointed CEO.</p>
<p>After about three months, the investor started complaining about ridiculous things, including things that didn't exist. I was demoted from CEO to Head of Design, and my right-hand man (a nuclear engineer) went from Head of Development to Developer. Since we didn't care about titles, we accepted it (not happily, but accepted). Then the investor and his shady friends started insisting that since I was no longer CEO, I should give most of my shares to them. I didn't accept that, and things got really weird after that.</p>
<p>Finally, they told me that they wanted me out of the company and wanted all my shares. I was so tired that I told them I'd no problem leaving the company, but they'd never get the shares for free. They offered me a ridiculous amount for my 21%, which I didn't accept.</p>
<p>Three days later, I learned that they'd set up another company in Singapore and stolen all my work. Last month they removed every trace of my work, but of course I've all kinds of evidence and I'd even show screenshots from Archive.org.</p>
<p>I really don't know if I can do anything. There's a lot of money involved because they've started to get the funds from VC. Based on the calculations I did and the amounts I knew they were going to ask for (because I got the whole thing rolling), I think they've secured at least 2 million by now, or at least have some sort of agreement on that money. So it's tempting to follow up on it. I've all kinds of evidence, I even recorded our last conversation ( letting they know I was doing it ), but on the other hand I'm afraid I don't have many chances and I don't even know where to start (hire a lawyer in Singapore? litigate from my country?).</p>

<p>You would start by contacting a local lawyer. At some point you may want to take them to court, and an important question is, what court has jurisdiction? If you sue them in your country, there may be an issue in trying to collect on any judgment, but maybe it is manageable. Do your country's court have jurisdiction? That depends on your country's laws. Step one is to find out if it is even possible to sue them locally. Bear in mind that even though you set up an LLC in Singapore, you are not necessarily suing that LLC, you might be suing another corporation or set of people. So &quot;Singapore&quot; is not necessarily the only other choice. Start local, even if it turns out that you have to engage a multi-national law firm with lawyers everywhere.</p>

limited-liability-company singapore