Kim Hicks, P.C.

A bitcoin mining support venture on Friday lost a Delaware Court of Chancery suit seeking damages tied to allegations it was misled by an insurer's purported promises to pay out up to $32.7 million in customer returns on nearly $7 million in investments. Senior Magistrate in Chancery Selena E. Molina found that Pennsylvania-headquartered Investview Inc. and iGenius LLC "have an adequate remedy at law" through Superior Court in a suit for money damages rather than seeking Chancery Court awards based on equity. Investview is a financial technology company and brokerage trading platform. The Court of Chancery suit asked for a declaratory judgment, an order for specific performance and findings of fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment and breach of contact against UIU Holdings LLC, Total Protection Plus and three individuals. At the center of the claims are alleged failures by UIU and Total Protection Plus to make good on purportedly agreed-upon payouts to those who initially invested $13,750 in a program involving customer purchases of individual Apex Tek LLC bitcoin "mining" devices from Investview. The systems were then leased back to operators. "In reality, it is not the ability to make claims but the payment of funds due under the TPP plan that customers seek," Magistrate Molina wrote. "The end result and the real purpose of the claims process" would be to compel a "monetary payment that [customers] recover as damages," which can be pursued through regular Superior Court litigation. The bitcoin mining business, launched in early 2019, included insurance protection purportedly secured through Lloyd's of London. The policy was described as covering an arrangement that allowed customers to reclaim percentages of their investments at intervals of up to 12 years. Those who sued, the magistrate wrote, "have not identified any nonspeculative harm to their business. Customers contracted with defendants directly to enroll in the TPP plan, and plaintiffs do not allege that any customer has initiated legal proceedings or sought other recourse against plaintiffs." The suit, the magistrate added, fails to show how an injunction would prevent continuing harm, since those who were sued failed to obtain insurance, "and there are no allegations of an escrow or account from which the [Chancery] court could compel the release of funds to pay a damages award." The complaint accused Total Protection Plus and others of carrying out an "elaborate scheme" intended to conceal from Investview and others that the program was operating without insurance backing, despite Total Protection Plus' claims and asserted changes of insurers. Investview, through iGenius, began selling a new "adaptive" digital currency called "ndau" in 2021 under an agreement with Oneiro, a global provider of blockchain services. The cryptocurrency was marketed with Total Protection Plus' protection services, as well. Operations began to come apart as mining devices and investors reached claim windows for payouts on their bitcoin investments. Those who were sued asked the court to dismiss the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in Chancery Court, and for failure to state claims for which relief was possible. "Taking a 'practical view' of the complaint in this action, it is apparent that a suit for money damages would provide plaintiffs with an adequate remedy at law," the magistrate wrote. The parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Investview and iGenius are represented by Seth A. Niederman, Ryan T. Becker and Saverio S. Romeo of Fox Rothschild LLP. UIU, Total Protection Plus, Jason R. Anderson and Jacob S. Anderson are represented by Kurt M. Heyman and Emily A. Letcher of Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP. Schad E. Brannon is represented by D. Charles Vavala III and Jordan P. Hicks of Wilks Law LLC. The case is Investview Inc. et al. v. UIU Holdings LLC et al., case number 2025-0327, in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

Nov 21

3 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its institutional partners on a definitive agreement through which Brookfield Infrastructure and existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will acquire Compass Datacenters, LLC (Compass) from RedBird Capital Partners and the Azrieli Group. Compass designs and constructs data centers for some of the world’s largest hyperscalers and cloud providers on campuses across the globe. The new ownership structure will provide Compass with continued strong operational and financial support to execute its sustainable and large-scale data center campuses across multiple regions. The transaction is expected to close by year end, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Kim Hicks and Kate Rainey Willson; debt finance partners Roald Nashi and Gregory Howling; tax partners David Wheat and Joseph Tootle; and executive compensation partner Stephen Brecher.

Jun 20

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE:SWN) on its agreement to merge in an all-stock transaction with Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CHK), with Southwestern valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $6.69 per share, based on Chesapeake’s closing price on January 10, 2024. Under the terms of the agreement, Southwestern shareholders will receive 0.0867 shares of Chesapeake common stock for each share of Southwestern common stock outstanding at closing. Based on share prices on January 10, 2024, the combined company would have an enterprise value of approximately $24 billion. Read Southwestern and Chesapeake's combined press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Doug Bacon, Kim Hicks and Pat Salvo; debt finance partners Will Bos, Rachael Lichman and Chad Davis; capital markets partners Julian Seiguer and Anne Peetz; tax partners David Wheat and Bill Dong; executive compensation partners Rob Fowler and Stephanie Jeane; and antitrust & competition partners Jim Mutchnik and Chuck Boyars.

Jan 11

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Intelligent Medical Objects (IMO), a healthcare data enablement company and market leader in clinical terminology solutions from Warburg Pincus, on its agreement for Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (THL), a premier private equity firm investing in growth companies, to acquire a majority interest in IMO. THL’s investment will support the company’s product development and expanded commercial relationships with hospitals and other health care providers. Read THL’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Jai Agrawal and Kim Hicks and associates Dustin Cooper and Oscar Leija.

Mar 31

1 min

A bitcoin mining support venture on Friday lost a Delaware Court of Chancery suit seeking damages tied to allegations it was misled by an insurer's purported promises to pay out up to $32.7 million in customer returns on nearly $7 million in investments. Senior Magistrate in Chancery Selena E. Molina found that Pennsylvania-headquartered Investview Inc. and iGenius LLC "have an adequate remedy at law" through Superior Court in a suit for money damages rather than seeking Chancery Court awards based on equity. Investview is a financial technology company and brokerage trading platform. The Court of Chancery suit asked for a declaratory judgment, an order for specific performance and findings of fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment and breach of contact against UIU Holdings LLC, Total Protection Plus and three individuals. At the center of the claims are alleged failures by UIU and Total Protection Plus to make good on purportedly agreed-upon payouts to those who initially invested $13,750 in a program involving customer purchases of individual Apex Tek LLC bitcoin "mining" devices from Investview. The systems were then leased back to operators. "In reality, it is not the ability to make claims but the payment of funds due under the TPP plan that customers seek," Magistrate Molina wrote. "The end result and the real purpose of the claims process" would be to compel a "monetary payment that [customers] recover as damages," which can be pursued through regular Superior Court litigation. The bitcoin mining business, launched in early 2019, included insurance protection purportedly secured through Lloyd's of London. The policy was described as covering an arrangement that allowed customers to reclaim percentages of their investments at intervals of up to 12 years. Those who sued, the magistrate wrote, "have not identified any nonspeculative harm to their business. Customers contracted with defendants directly to enroll in the TPP plan, and plaintiffs do not allege that any customer has initiated legal proceedings or sought other recourse against plaintiffs." The suit, the magistrate added, fails to show how an injunction would prevent continuing harm, since those who were sued failed to obtain insurance, "and there are no allegations of an escrow or account from which the [Chancery] court could compel the release of funds to pay a damages award." The complaint accused Total Protection Plus and others of carrying out an "elaborate scheme" intended to conceal from Investview and others that the program was operating without insurance backing, despite Total Protection Plus' claims and asserted changes of insurers. Investview, through iGenius, began selling a new "adaptive" digital currency called "ndau" in 2021 under an agreement with Oneiro, a global provider of blockchain services. The cryptocurrency was marketed with Total Protection Plus' protection services, as well. Operations began to come apart as mining devices and investors reached claim windows for payouts on their bitcoin investments. Those who were sued asked the court to dismiss the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in Chancery Court, and for failure to state claims for which relief was possible. "Taking a 'practical view' of the complaint in this action, it is apparent that a suit for money damages would provide plaintiffs with an adequate remedy at law," the magistrate wrote. The parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Investview and iGenius are represented by Seth A. Niederman, Ryan T. Becker and Saverio S. Romeo of Fox Rothschild LLP. UIU, Total Protection Plus, Jason R. Anderson and Jacob S. Anderson are represented by Kurt M. Heyman and Emily A. Letcher of Heyman Enerio Gattuso & Hirzel LLP. Schad E. Brannon is represented by D. Charles Vavala III and Jordan P. Hicks of Wilks Law LLC. The case is Investview Inc. et al. v. UIU Holdings LLC et al., case number 2025-0327, in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.

Nov 21

3 min