The High Court has ruled that a French investor pursuing people he alleges defrauded him can obtain photo identification documents for individuals who opened specified accounts with SumUp Limited. The court also approved disclosure of account-holder and transaction information, as recalibrated by the parties. It has not yet settled the form of the order: Mr Justice Nolan said he would hear the parties on that issue.
The investor, Jean Pierre Boulbet, told the court he first put about €280,000 into what he believed were investments in Spanish care homes after responding to an online advertisement in 2021. He said people using the names Nicolas Becker and Stefan Lemercier later directed him to move money, including to Irish accounts with SumUp. Transfers relevant to this application, made between December 2021 and February 2022, totalled about €390,000. The judgment records his account that the supposed investments were fraudulent and that the real identities of Becker and Lemercier remain unknown. Investigations into his complaints in several EU countries were ongoing.
Boulbet sought information to identify those behind the alleged fraud and pursue recovery. SumUp did not consent to or oppose the first two categories of requested information, subject to undertakings. It disputed the request for account-opening documents, citing customer privacy, data-protection obligations and the need to limit disclosure to what was necessary. The company argued that names and addresses would allow Boulbet to bring a claim, while the wider documents went beyond what the law permitted at this stage.
The judge considered the request under two equitable procedures: a Norwich Pharmacal order, aimed at identifying an alleged wrongdoer, and a Banker’s Trust order, which can support tracing assets. He said there was no Irish authority supporting the specific proposition that either order could require the photographic documents sought, but concluded that the court had jurisdiction to grant that relief in this case.
The order for account-opening material was limited to identification documents containing a photograph, such as a passport, national identity card or driving licence. The judge found that a photograph could help identify a person against whom proceedings might be brought and could have a real prospect of assisting in locating or preserving assets. He accepted there had been some delay but held it was not fatal, taking account of Boulbet’s continuing correspondence with SumUp and efforts across several countries.
The information may be used only by Boulbet in the restricted circumstances of seeking to recover his assets, subject to appropriate undertakings. The judgment grants the requested relief under both legal headings, but leaves the precise terms of the order for a further hearing.