The plaintiffs invested $1.25 million USD in the defendants' rehabilitative shoe insert business, Barefoot Science, based on representations that the company owned its intellectual property.
The plaintiffs later discovered the principal defendant secretly owned the patents and had forged documents to protect his reversionary interest.
The court found the defendants liable for deceit, fraudulent misrepresentation, and oppression.
The court awarded the plaintiffs $2.2 million USD, varied the security agreements to capture the intellectual property, and declared the forged agreements void.
