Jia Wei Lee

International / offshore

Trusts

Jia Wei has significant experience in complex trusts litigation. Much of it concerns substantial wealth (whether belonging to individuals or corporate entities) held offshore, with instructions from jurisdictions including BVI, the Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong.

Before commencing practice, Jia Wei taught equity and trusts at the University of Cambridge and University College London.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

• Salem v Salem. Acting in relation to a long-running, multi-jurisdictional family trust dispute. Jia Wei’s clients are the trustees of this family trust, which hold the assets of a pan-African business empire. Proceedings had previously been brought in England, which were compromised on the terms of a settlement deed dated 15 April 2016. Part of the settlement included an obligation to “use reasonable endeavours to agree a binding process for an expert determination” to value and divide what was referred to as “the African Business.” In 2024, an application was made by one of the family members seeking to enforce this obligation. Jia Wei acted for the trustees in resisting the application for enforcement. The application was duly dismissed. Permission to appeal has been granted, and Jia Wei is set to act for the respondent trustees in the Court of Appeal in early 2027.
• (Confidential) Acting for a multinational banking group based in the Cayman Islands, in a claim against it in the region of US$15m. The claimant had alleged that his employment as CEO of the claimant company was terminated in breach of contract, and that he was owed several millions of dollars in unpaid stock options. The defendant resisted these claims on the basis that he had acted negligently and fraudulently in leading the development of a new digital banking business, resulting in vast business losses. The claim was settled shortly before trial.
• Raiffeisen International Bank AG v Scully Royalty Ltd. With John Wardell KC. Acting for various  defendants in civil fraud proceedings in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, involving claims over €40m under the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Law and in conspiracy. This includes two separate appeals on interlocutory matters before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands.
• Chia Hsing Wang v Otaibi & Ors. With John Wardell KC, John McGhee KC and Tom Roscoe. Acting in an ongoing dispute between a private individual and his financial advisors about his substantial investments in various offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the BVI.
• (Confidential) Advising the husband in a high-value, complex matrimonial claim with assets held in dozens of trust structures, established over several decades, spread across numerous jurisdictions, and in respect of which it was alleged that the husband had used these offshore structures to avoid enforcement of an 8-figure award made against him in the High Court.
• (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a large offshore trust in relation to potential claims in mistake, misrepresentation and under the Re Hastings-Bass jurisdiction arising out of historic dispositions made to the guardian of various beneficiaries.
• (Confidential) Acting for a court-appointed deputy in confidential Court of Protection proceedings relating to the management, investigation and disposition of a protected person’s assets.
• (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a multi-million dollar Guernsey settlement as to any claims in restitution, misrepresentation, breach of trust or mistake that may lie against the beneficiary’s guardian.
• (Confidential) Advising the trustees of a trust over land, settled for the benefit of a rugby club, as to the impact on such trust of the dissolution of the rugby club, and its subsequent reconstitution as a limited.

Download International / offshore CV

Civil fraud and asset recovery

Jia Wei is often instructed on complex, high-value fraud and conspiracy claims with a multi-jurisdictional element. He has also developed a niche in advising on and acting in claims to set aside judgments on the grounds that they were procured by fraud.

Jia Wei’s practices regularly in corporate disputes in which fraud is alleged against directors or shareholders, and in this setting, advises frequently in connection the use of unfair prejudice petitions and derivative claims. Jia Wei is also well-versed in the use of the insolvency procedures as a means not only to recover the proceeds of fraud, but to investigate them. This encompasses the use of s.423 applications, s.236 examinations, and seeking the appointment of receivers or provisional liquidators. Jia Wei also has experience of using these same remedies offshore, and seeking recognition of foreign insolvencies in England under the CBIR.

Before commencing practice, Jia Wei taught equity and trusts at the University of Cambridge and University College London.

A representative sample of his recent instructions includes:

• Takhar v Gracefield Developments Limited. Acting for the claimant in a case where she alleges that two members of her extended family, by a conspiracy involving repeated lies and undue influence, cheated her out of ownership of 5 properties in Coventry. Judgment was originally given against her in 2010, but Jia Wei (acting with John Wardell KC) secured an order setting aside that original judgment on the basis that it had been procured by the fraud of the defendants. In 2024, Jia Wei then acted successfully for the Claimant (with Graeme Halkerston) in her retrial of the original claim. The resulting judgment spans over 400 pages, and covers a range of difficult and complex issues pertaining to the law on conspiracy, limitation and undue influence.
• Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al-Jaber v Greig Mitchell & Ors. The defendant been ordered to pay US$67m in equitable compensation for an alleged breach of fiduciary duty relating to the assets of a BVI company in liquidation. Jia Wei acted successfully for the defendant in the Court of Appeal (with Jonathan Crow KC and Clare Stanley KC) in overturning the US$67m award, resulting in a judgment which grapples with foundational issues on the law of fiduciary duties and equitable compensation. The decision was subject to appeal before the Supreme Court, and Jia Wei acted in the preparation written submissions on the respondent’s behalf.
• Ensign House Limited v FEC Development Management Limited & Ors. With Joanne Wicks KC, acting successfully for the claimant developer who had, over several years, assembled a deal to redevelop a development site in Canary Wharf. The claimant alleged that the defendants, a major international development consortium, engaged in a conspiracy with one of the claimant’s agents to misuse confidential information and hijack the deal. Judgment was given in the claimant’s favour following a 6-week trial at the end of 2022.
• (Confidential) Acting for the trustee-in-bankruptcy of an Indian national, seeking to recover assets
• (Confidential) Acting for a multinational banking group based in the Cayman Islands, in a claim against it in the region of US$15m. The claimant had alleged that his employment as CEO of the claimant company was terminated in breach of contract, and that he was owed several millions of dollars in unpaid stock options. The defendant resisted these claims on the basis that he had acted fraudulently in leading the development of a new digital banking business, then repeatedly concealing the failure of the project, resulting in vast business losses. The claim was settled shortly before trial.
• Raiffeisen International Bank AG v Scully Royalty Ltd. With John Wardell KC. Acted for the defendants to a claim made under the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Act, and in conspiracy, in which the claimants alleged that Jia Wei’s clients had restructured hundreds of millions of pounds in assets, in an effort to defeat obligations owed to RBI. The claim was valued at up to €153m. Jia Wei was initially instructed in an appeal against a freezing order granted against his clients, which was heard over 2 days and resulted in an order limiting the maximum sum on the freezing order.
• Chia Hsing Wang v Otaibi & Ors. With John Wardell KC, John McGhee KC and Tom Roscoe. Acting in an ongoing dispute between a private individual and his financial advisors about his substantial investments in various offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands and the BVI. Jia Wei’s client has since obtained orders for the appointment of receivers and liquidators over these investment vehicles. 

Download Civil fraud and asset recovery CV