Bobby Sarnevesht v. Triller Group Inc.

Court of Chancery of Delaware·Decided July 17, 2026·No. C.A. No. 2025-0979-LWW·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

BOBBY SARNEVESHT, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) C.A. No. 2025-0979-LWW ) TRILLER GROUP INC., f/k/a AGBA ) GROUP HOLDING LIMITED, ) ) Defendant. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Date Submitted: May 26, 2026 Date Decided: July 17, 2026

Richard P. Rollo, Travis Hunter, Danielle I. Bell, RICHARDS LAYTON & FINGER, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; Counsel for Plaintiff

WILL, Vice Chancellor This action arises from breaches of a merger agreement. After the merger

closed, the surviving entity failed to secure a promised $500 million equity

investment and to register millions of shares issued to former noteholders. The

stockholders’ representative sued the surviving entity, which failed to appear. I

entered a default judgment on liability against the entity and directed the plaintiff to

prove damages at an evidentiary hearing. This post-hearing decision quantifies that

award.

I. BACKGROUND

The following facts are drawn from the well-pleaded allegations of the

Verified Complaint (the “Complaint”), which are deemed admitted due to the

defendant’s default, as well as the expert testimony and evidence on damages.1

A. The Merger

In early 2024, Triller Corp.—an artificial intelligence-driven social media

platform—began exploring transaction opportunities.2 Its efforts culminated in an

1 Verified Compl. (Dkt. 1) (“Compl.”); see Freedman v. Adams, 2012 WL 1345638, at *5 (Del. Ch. Mar. 30, 2012) (“When a plaintiff expressly refers to and heavily relies upon documents in her complaint, these documents are considered to be incorporated by reference into the complaint.”), aff’d, 58 A.3d 414 (Del. 2013); Hauspie v. Stonington P’rs, Inc., 945 A.2d 584, 586 (Del. 2008) (explaining that on a default judgment, well-pleaded allegations are deemed admitted); Tr. of May 11, 2026 Evidentiary Hr’g on Damages (Dkt. 24) (“Evidentiary Hr’g Tr.”). 2 Compl. ¶¶ 8-9. 1 Amended and Restated Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”).3

The Merger Agreement was executed on August 29, 2024, by and among AGBA

Group Holding Limited, AGBA Social Inc., Triller Corp., and plaintiff Bobby

Sarnevesht as Holder Representative for the stockholders of Triller Corp.4 The

merger closed in October 2024.5 AGBA Group Holding Limited changed its name

to Triller Group Inc.—a Delaware corporation operating as a holding company and

the defendant here.6

The Merger Agreement contained covenants to capitalize the post-merger

entity and provide liquidity to certain investors. Two provisions are relevant to this

lawsuit.

The first provision concerns stock issued to former holders of Corporation

Convertible Notes (“CCNs”) that Triller Corp. issued before the merger.7 Under the

Merger Agreement, these CCNs converted into shares of Triller Group common

stock.8 Section 4.12 of the Merger Agreement required Triller Group to “[p]romptly

after Closing[] . . . prepare and file with the [Securities and Exchange Commission

3 Id. at Ex. A (“Merger Agreement”). 4 Id. at 1. 5 Compl. ¶ 10. 6 Id. ¶ 4. 7 Id. ¶ 12. 8 Merger Agreement § 1.11. 2 (the “SEC”)], a Registration Statement on an appropriate form, covering the resale”

of the converted shares.9 Triller Group agreed to “use commercially reasonable

efforts to cause such Registration Statement to be declared effective under the

Securities Act [of 1933] as promptly as possible.”10 These promises in Section 4.12

are referred to as the “Registration Covenant.”

The second provision concerns capital raising for the newly merged

enterprise. In Section 4.5 of the Merger Agreement, Triller Group “agreed . . . to

use its best efforts to invest or arrange for an investment in the form of equity in the

amount of $500 million into [Triller Group], post-Merger.”11 This provision is

referred to as the “Investment Covenant.”

B. Post-Closing Financial Distress

After the merger closed, Triller Group failed to file a registration statement

for the 54,077,698 shares held by the former CCN holders, preventing the resale of

those shares on the public market.12 Triller Group also took no steps to secure the

$500 million equity investment.13

9 Id. § 4.12; see Compl. ¶ 2. 10 Merger Agreement § 4.12. 11 Id. § 4.5. 12 Compl. ¶¶ 14, 19-22. 13 Id. ¶¶ 23-24. 3 Triller Group soon experienced significant financial and operational

difficulties. On November 26, 2024, one of Triller Group’s primary creditors, YA

II PN, LTD (“Yorkville”), served to collect on a $35.4 million loan.14 Triller Group

defaulted, resulting in the loss of its majority stake in the Bare Knuckle Fighting

Championship (BKFC)—Triller Group’s primary asset.15 Triller Group later

defaulted on additional obligations, its sports streaming revenues ceased, and its

main social media app became non-functional.16

Amid this distress, Triller Group failed to timely file its 2024 annual

Form 10-K and 2025 quarterly Form 10-Q reports with the SEC.17 Consequently, it

received multiple delinquency and delisting notices from Nasdaq, and the trading of

its stock was suspended for three and a half months.18 By the spring of 2026, Triller

Group’s stock was trading at approximately $0.15 to $0.25 per share.19

14 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 20-21; Ex. to Letter Regarding Presentation of Pl.’s Expert (Dkt. 20) (“Expert Presentation”) 11. 15 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 20-21; Expert Presentation 11. 16 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 42-43; Expert Presentation 25-26. 17 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 22; Expert Presentation 12. 18 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 22-23; Expert Presentation 12. 19 See Evidentiary Hr’g Tr. 46; Expert Presentation 26. 4 C. This Litigation

On August 27, 2025, Sarnevesht sued Triller Group for breaching the

Registration and Investment Covenants in the Merger Agreement.20 Service of

process was executed on Triller Group’s registered agent on September 3, 2025.21

Triller Group never answered the complaint or otherwise appeared in this action.

On October 9, 2025, Sarnevesht moved for a default judgment.22 I set a

February 6, 2026 hearing on the motion.23 Despite having notice of the hearing—

and notice of this action as evidenced by a reference to the litigation in Triller

Group’s Form 10-K shortly before the hearing—Triller Group failed to appear.24 I

granted the motion and entered a default judgment against Triller Group for

breaching the Merger Agreement.25

20 See Compl. ¶¶ 25-28. 21 See Dkt. 3. 22 Pl.’s Mot. for Default J. (Dkt. 6). 23 Order Scheduling Hr’g on Mot. for Default J. Against Def. (Dkt. 8). 24 See Letter Providing Additional Information in Advance of Hr’g on Mot. for Default J. (Dkt. 11) Ex. B at 93, 95. 25 Order Granting Pl.’s Mot. for Default J. (Dkt. 14); see Tr. of Feb. 6, 2026 Telephonic Oral Arg. and Ruling of the Ct. on Pl.’s Mot. for Default J. (Dkt. 17) (“Default J. Hr’g Tr.”) 13-14. 5 As a remedy, Sarnevesht requested between $256.8 and $458.7 million in

damages for the Registration Covenant breach.26 I ordered additional briefing on

“the appropriate quantum of damages and the method of calculating damages.”27

On February 10, Sarnevesht’s counsel filed a letter stating that he was “willing

to accept a reduced judgment now if that approach avoid[ed] the delay associated

with an evidentiary damages hearing.”28 Relying on the “New York Rule,” he

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