Supreme Court of New Zealand · [2026] NZSC 97
The Supreme Court restored injunctions stopping Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd, a New Zealand company controlled by Mr Wikeley and trustee of a...
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Kea Investments is a British Virgin Islands company associated with Sir Owen Glenn. The respondents produced a two-page document described as a 2012 Coal Agreement. It supposedly required Kea to fund coal investments in the United States.
New Zealand courts found that the document was forged and the commercial arrangement did not exist. The supposed Kentucky jurisdiction clause was part of the fabrication, not a genuine choice made by Kea.
Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd used the fictitious agreement to sue Kea in Kentucky. In 2022, it obtained a default judgment for USD 123.75 million, plus interest and costs.
Kea then pursued the people and entities behind the claim in New Zealand. The High Court found fraud and made permanent orders preventing them from continuing the Kentucky proceeding or using the judgment. The Court of Appeal upheld the fraud findings but removed the injunctions because it considered that respect for the Kentucky court should carry greater weight.
| Court | What happened |
|---|---|
| New Zealand High Court | Found fraud and restrained the Kentucky proceeding and judgment. |
| Court of Appeal | Kept the fraud findings but discharged the injunctions. |
| Supreme Court | Restored the High Court's permanent injunctions. |
The Supreme Court held that international comity did not require New Zealand to stand aside. New Zealand was a proper place to control respondents who were subject to its courts, and the foreign proceeding rested on final findings of fraud.
Kea was not required to exhaust an appeal in Kentucky. On the findings, extending the foreign process was itself part of the scheme. Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd was in court-appointed interim liquidation and managed by independent liquidators, which also changed the comity analysis.
The case is extreme, but the controls it points to are ordinary. High-value contracts should have a verifiable execution trail, clear signatory authority and secure originals. A business should be able to show who approved the deal, which version was signed and where the supporting communications are kept.
Key points
The fraud findings in the High Court and Court of Appeal were final. Leave to challenge those facts in the Supreme Court had been declined. The Supreme Court dealt with the legal consequences, particularly whether permanent injunctions should stop the Kentucky proceeding and judgment from being used.
The trust was governed by New Zealand law, the central respondents were subject to the New Zealand court and the fraudulent scheme had substantial New Zealand connections. The forged agreement's Kentucky jurisdiction clause could not create valid consent.
No. Courts generally respect foreign proceedings and judgments. This was an exceptional case involving established fraud, personal jurisdiction over the wrongdoers and a finding that requiring further Kentucky steps would help prolong the scheme.
Supreme Court restores injunctions against fraudulent foreign claim
The Supreme Court reinstated permanent orders preventing further use of a Kentucky judgment obtained through an elaborate fraud based on a fictitious coal agreement, holding that the Court of Appeal had erred in discharging the injunctions on comity grounds.