Quinn Emanuel London Secures Unanimous Court of Appeal Victory for Illiquidx Ltd
Today, the Court of Appeal handed down a unanimous judgment in favour of our client Illiquidx Ltd, dismissing an appeal of their successful first instance victory against Altana Wealth Limited and Brevent Advisory Ltd.
The claim concerned a joint venture agreement and NDA between Illiquidx, Altana and Brevent to establish a fund to invest in distressed Venezuelan debt. The joint venture ended without a fund being launched, but Altana went on to set up its own fund focussed on distressed Venezuelan debt, named the ACOF. In February 2025, the High Court concluded that, in setting up the ACOF, Altana and Brevent had misused Illiquidx’s confidential information, and was thus liable for breach of contract, breach of confidence, and breach of trade secrets.
Altana and Brevent appealed the High Court’s judgment on three grounds which primarily focused on whether Illiquidx’s confidential information was in the public domain, and thus not protectable by the terms of the NDA. The Court of Appeal dismissed all three grounds of appeal, re-affirming the well-established meaning of ‘public domain’ under the English law of confidence, and the trial judge’s conclusion that Illiquidx’s confidential information, the opportunity to set up a sanctions compliant fund to exploit undervalued Venezuelan debt, was not in the public domain.
A Quinn Emanuel team, including Senior Partner Richard East, Partner Epaminontas Triantafilou, and Partner and Head of Intellectual Property Litigation David Lancaster, alongside counsel team: Andrew Green KC and Mark Vinall (both of Blackstone Chambers), and Charles Wall (of Brick Court Chambers), acted for Illiquidx during the appeal, and remain instructed as the case now moves to determine issues of quantum.
Congratulations to the team: Epaminontas Triantafilou, David Lancaster, Emily Au, Benjamin Edwards, and Elisabetta Creti Zauberman.