A Swedish court has seized control of all assets belonging to Hans Pandeya, the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X and the man who wants to acquire The Pirate Bay.
On Wednesday, the court found that there is enough evidence to show that Pandeya owes Johan Sellstrom, a former business partner in Global Gaming, the equivalent of about US$400,000, which includes interest.
The district court in Sweden ruled that the state would take control of Pandeya's assets until enough of them can be sold to pay back Sellstrom. The court said that Pandeya can appeal the decision but his assets will remain in the hands of the court until the appeal is heard.
"I was pleased to find that the Court has ruled that my promissory note is indeed genuine," Sellstrom said in an e-mail to ZDNet Asia's sister site, CNET. "More importantly, they agreed that a lien against Pandeya's net assets had to be put into effect immediately in order to prevent evasive measures on his part. I look forward to a hasty process in order to minimize the damage that Hans Pandeya has caused the share holders of GGF and wish them all the luck with the acquisition."
In response, Pandeya called Sellstrom's claims "bogus." He told the court that taking away his assets could harm the Pirate Bay acquisition because it will make it harder for him to raise capital.
In the past, Pandeya has said that he would use his own assets to secure any loans he received to help him acquire The Pirate Bay. That might be tough to do if his assets are in the hands of the government. He acknowledged this when asking the court, via letter, not to put a lien on his assets.
"The application appears to be a measure to ensure payment of a claim but the approval of a lien will seriously damage (Global Gaming) and its shareholders," Pandeya wrote. "Pandeya's real estate assets and shares are being used to guarantee the acquisition. If Sellstrom is awarded a lien the acquisition will become more difficult and the value of Pandeya's assets decreased."
Pandeya also claimed that he already paid Sellstrom, when he gave him a share of a property deal that eventually went bad. Sellstrom denied this and apparently the court t believed Sellstrom.
Most of the people covering this story gave up on the possibility a long time ago that Global Gaming will ever obtain The Pirate Bay. But even the hardiest supporters of a Global Gaming acquisition, if there are any, will struggle to figure out how a deal can get done now.
As in all the setbacks that he or Global Gaming has suffered, Pandeya said that an acquisition would still get done. He has already missed one deadline but he said Friday the acquisition will now be completed on September 30.
Global Gaming has already been kicked off a Swedish stock exchange for providing investors with false information. His car, boat, and motorcycle have been seized by debt collectors.
Pandeya reminds me of the Black Knight character in the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who gets all his limbs cut off one by one but says "It's just a flesh wound."
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
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