LONDON (Reuters) – Indian businessman Prateek Gupta, who said in March he had cash flow problems in paying to defend himself against fraud accusations from commodity trader Trafigura, has changed lawyers, according to a court website.
Gupta is being represented by London law firm Preston Turnbull, the court website showed on Wednesday. He had been using Mishcon De Reya since Geneva-based Trafigura filed its case in February last year.
A representative for Gupta and both law firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawyers for Gupta told a London court in March he had run out of funds to pay legal fees and wanted to negotiate a settlement.
“They are having difficulties…in funding the remainder of the litigation,” Gupta lawyer Barnaby Lowe told the London Commercial Court regarding his client Gupta and his companies.
At the time, a representative for Gupta said that there was a short-term problem with cash flow, but the defendants had “significant illiquid assets”.
Trafigura has alleged seven companies that Trafigura said are controlled by Gupta carried out systematic fraud involving what were supposed to be nickel cargoes.
Trafigura booked an impairment last year of $590 million due to the alleged fraud.
Hundreds of pages of new documents were released in connection with a December hearing including WhatsApp messages and emails that Gupta in his defence said showed Trafigura staff came up with the fraud. Trafigura and its staff have denied the allegations.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
