High Court upholds US$25 million freezing injunction in TNT conspiracy claim

In Tripwire South LLC v Astor International Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 3137 (KB), the High Court has upheld a US$25 million freezing injunction granted by Mr Justice Constable on 9 October 2025.

The underlying dispute concerns contracts for the supply of the explosive TNT.

The Claimant, Tripwire, is a Florida based munitions company. It entered into back-to-back agreements with Global, a leading US munitions company, and Astor, a UK munitions company, under which Astor would sell to Tripwire hundreds of millions of dollars of TNT (sourced from Vietnam) and Tripwire (which holds the relevant licences to import TNT into the United States) would sell that TNT on to Global (at an increased price) (“the Global Deal”).

Tripwire’s case is that it has been the victim of an unlawful means conspiracy between Global, the Astor companies and Mr Henry Turnbull (the owner of Astor), by which those parties combined to exclude Tripwire from the Global Deal, depriving Tripwire of over US $100 million in profit.

Tripwire also alleges that it was deceived into advancing US $9.45 million to the Astor companies in reliance on a representation that that money would be used to pay suppliers of TNT in Vietnam, when in fact Astor intended to use those monies for its own purposes, and that it was deceived in entering into a contract for the supply of explosives to Astor on the basis that monies provided by the MoD to Astor for those explosives would be forwarded to Tripwire on receipt.

At the return date, the Defendants challenged each and every limb of the freezing injunction test, contending that there was no serious issue to be tried (and no proper basis for alleging fraud), no real risk of dissipation, the order was not just and convenient, and that the Claimant had not given full and frank disclosure.

Mr Justice Cotter dismissed all of the Defendants’ contentions and upheld the freezing injunction, awarding the Claimant its costs of the return date.

The judgment is available here.

Richard Power acted for the Claimant, Tripwire, instructed by Huw Wallis, Jordan Cope and Sam Baxter of Greenwoods Legal Services Limited.