Prime Trust sues Swan Bitcoin for $970M in clawback case

The PCT Litigation Trust filed a 94-page adversary complaint on May 15, 2026 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware against Electric Solidus Inc., the parent company behind Swan Bitcoin. The trust seeks recovery of roughly 11,994 BTC (about $938 million), $24.66 million in cash, $5 million in stablecoins and 91,144 XRP, together totaling about $970 million.

The complaint alleges a senior Prime Trust executive who served as a paid advisor to Swan and reportedly lived near Swan CEO Cory Klippsten sent an encrypted, auto-deleting message on May 22, 2023. The trust says that communication prompted Swan to accelerate large transfers of customer assets during the 90-day preference window between May 16 and Aug. 14, 2023, while Prime Trust was insolvent.

According to the complaint, Swan moved client assets to custodians Fortress and BitGo in June 2023 and completed those transfers well ahead of other creditors and customers and before Prime Trust filed for Chapter 11 on Aug. 14, 2023. Swan informed customers at the time that the transfers related to system upgrades.

The trust acknowledges that Swan added some value to its accounts during the period, including about 1.44 BTC and $2.22 million in cash, but contends the net transfers favored the bankruptcy estate and seeks clawbacks of the larger amounts.

The complaint challenges the legal structure for holding assets. It cites Order Forms, an API Agreement and a Custodial Agreement that the trust says disclaimed fiduciary duties and allowed commingling. The filing alleges a ledger entry labeled “PT FBO Swan Customers” was created on May 25, 2023 to create the appearance of segregation after the alleged encrypted communication began.

A July 18, 2025 ruling by Judge J. Kate Stickles held that assets in Prime Trust’s possession at the time of the bankruptcy filing were part of the estate because of commingling and the terms of the contracts. That ruling allowed the plan administrator to treat partner assets as estate property with certain carve-outs.

The complaint also recounts signs of financial distress at Prime Trust in 2023. The company lost access to a wallet holding about $80 million, used customer funds to meet withdrawals and carried fiat liabilities of more than $85 million against roughly $3 million on hand. Nevada regulators issued a cease-and-desist order in June 2023 and placed Prime Trust in receivership before the Chapter 11 filing.

Swan has disputed the litigation trust’s theory in prior court filings, arguing that “Prime Trust held customer property in individually owned trust accounts” and that customer assets held by a trust company are not available to general unsecured creditors. Swan had not filed a formal response to the May 15 adversary complaint as of May 18, 2026. The case is assigned to Judge Stickles as Adversary Proceeding No. 26-50331.

The PCT Litigation Trust has pursued similar clawback suits against other former Prime partners, including Strike, Compass Mining, Fold and Galaxy Digital. Central legal questions in the cases include whether assets were properly segregated, whether transfers qualify as preferences and whether partner firms can assert fiduciary defenses; those questions are being litigated across related matters on the Delaware docket.