Personal Insults, Legal Escalation, and the Sand Battery Dispute in May 2025 (SAND - Part 14)

"Yeah. Do what you want. I challenge your entire 18 generations of ancestors. Hahaha". These are words coming from Alterno management team on 1st May 2025...

[🇻🇳 Đọc bài tiếng Việt tại đây]

📮 The 1st May insulting email chain

My attorney and I, bound by the rules of legal procedure, wanted to wait until after the 15th April 2025 court date to see whether Alterno Vietnam would answer to the court. That did not happen — the Alterno team did not turn up for court. So on the morning of 1st May 2025, I decided to start writing about my own original home-made sand battery — Part 1 of this saga.

Two days later, on 3rd May VN time, a colleague of mine, informed me that they received a weird email in our shared software dev account at [email protected] . As I read the first line, I knew exactly who sent it...

I first shared about this in Part 9 of this saga but with some details hidden. Now let me show you the full 'picture'. With the English translation below:

• [Suspect - 1st May 21:09] Yeah. Do what you want. I challenge your entire 18 generations of ancestors. Hahaha.
• [Me - 3rd May 17:50] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic7Q0EqMBqk If you did wrong, you must correct it; if someone is covering up wrongdoing, the crime is doubled. Vietnamese law is not to be trifled with, friend.
• [Suspect - 3rd May 17:54] Oh, we're so scared of you. Already stupid, yet trying to act tough 😻 Illiterate and mentally unstable , trying to threaten people.
• [Me - 3rd May 18:17] Please use your words carefully. Everyone knows who you are, and this evidence will be used in court.
• [Suspect - 3rd May 18:18] Oh, so scared again. I challenge you further.
• [Me - 3rd May 18:25] Thank you Nam for the confirmation.
• [Suspect - 3rd May 18:56] Are you illiterate and can't read? I am Nguyen The Luan, a professional liar, living by double standards, stupid when speaking, and useless when acting. Only knows how to criticize others while being powerless myself.

This email chain appears to be a targeted campaign against me. The sender is anonymous, but the context, timing, and content point — in my assessment — to "Nam" (Nam Nguyen, co-founder of Alterno). Here is why:

1. Impersonation: The use of [email protected] with the display name "Nguyen Luan" directly attempting to insult and impersonate me.

2. Harassment and Defamation: The content of the emails from the impersonating suspect is highly aggressive, uses severe personal insults (e.g., "illiterate," "stupid," "mentally unstable"), and includes profanity and culturally significant slurs. The final email explicitly defames me by attributing negative characteristics to me while pretending to be me (wtf?). These actions could constitute harassment and defamation under Singaporean law, particularly the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA).

3. Electronic Evidence: The clear chronological exchange, and the repeated hostile messages demonstrate a pattern of behavior. The raw email is still in the email inbox today, my entire Alpha Bits team saw it.

4. Context of Disputes: This exchange occurs amidst ongoing disputes in both Vietnam (wrongful termination, patent ownership) and Singapore (share transfer contract). The harassment can be framed as an attempt to intimidate me or discredit me publicly and privately, impacting my reputation and ongoing legal cases.

5. Breach of Trust/Good Faith: This behavior, originating from an individual closely associated with Alterno's management (Nam), severely breaches any remaining trust or expectation of good faith. It was clear from the content that they knew what they did, but challenged me anyway.

A few of our common friends did ask Nam and Hai about it; some got a response claiming that this email was created by me! Yeah... wtf?! Anyone who reads Vietnamese can compare the phrasing and vocabulary in those emails against years of my own public writing — the style simply is not mine, and I could not reproduce it even if I tried.

Putting this email into the grand context, it came after Alterno Singapore failed to make the third payment to me March 2025, also after the missed court summons in Vietnam on 15th April 2025, and also after Investment Agreement with UntroD was signed on 17th April 2025 in Singapore. This is before I discovered about the USPTO on 21st May 2025 .

This email suggests that, while the Alterno team is fully aware of the ongoing legal actions, and while concealing about USPTO updates, they chose to continue attacking me personally when I began sharing my technical understanding of my own home-made Sand Battery from 2022, before Alterno.

Previously several events happened with precise co-incidental timing in the morning & night. This time, I posted in the morning, and at night, this email came on the same day. I wonder why...

I have to ask: what kind of character is the person behind this email?

📣💬 The 23rd May insulting whispers

On this date, Alterno Singapore filed a new Company Constitution with ACRA Singapore, updating a few terms and definitions of "Founder", "Bad leaver", some changes to Reserved Matters, and recognising new investors (UntroD & ADB Ventures).

On this very same day, Hai Ho shared these insulting remarks about me to a private group of friends and ex-Antler participants (about 20+ people). Including spreading confidential documents that were never meant to be shared outside of the board and authorised legal advisors. Here is an English translation with context:

I don't know why I coincidentally entered this group today. Normally, I don't have the need to share Alterno's matters because Nam and I are busy, unlike those other ignorant animals.
I'll just share a very small line like this.
That ignorant animal self-aggrandized (literally 'blood to be king of the world/father of all'), disdaining everyone in the team after I closed the Seed round. He did nothing and even sabotaged, causing one investor to leave because he couldn't control his emotions and cursed at the investor.
Then he himself proposed not being CEO but moving to CSO. Then told me to be CEO. He himself signed the resignation record. After that, he disappeared for 2 months without contact... then came back demanding to hire another CEO to fire me.
All the awards I earned were exchanged for money to buy back his shares.
The company has full control. It's the company's decision whose name is put (on things) to make their CV look good.
My name is on the patent, but I don't dare to claim myself as an inventor. The main inventor, Mr. Nam, is prominently named, but he doesn't even bother to show off.
And that email... LOL... (he) went and hacked Alterno's email system and then cried for justice.
You see he is right because we (Hai and Nam) don't bother to prove him wrong.
We have a planet to save.

Hai shared a file titled CSO appointment.pdf (To) brothers, read the resignation document he himself signed, and now he's suing the company.
Hai shared a file titled Transaction Receipt.pdf He took the money like this, agreed to terminate all relations with the company... and now he's suing. Guys, just see. Today I have time so I'll share a bit. Anyone who wants to meet and see all the evidence and prove him right, then I will voluntarily resign and transfer all my shares back to him.

So what does that mean to put in context, let me break it down further:

• Lack of understanding of Intellectual Property rights: I explained in Part 10 about Authorship vs Ownership of the patent. I am fully aware of my rights being an Author of the Patent. I don't claim to "own" the patent like what was said about. This is an attempt to confuse the public who is not trained in this.

• Violation of Confidentiality terms: The two documents here are part of a confidential set intended only for the board and authorised legal advisors, yet Hai shared them openly with a large group — showing a lack of care for confidentiality (and not for the first time).

• Dehumanization and Personal Attack: The repeated use of "con vật vô minh kia" (that ignorant animal) was highly aggressive and intentional. This level of personal attack is extremely harsh in Vietnamese culture and indicates deep-seated animosity.

• Narrative Control: Hai actively tried to control the narrative by presenting his side as factual and mine as contradictory, ego-driven, and even illegal (accusing me of hacking). He positions himself and Nam as the rational, busy, and righteous founders focused on the company's grand mission.

• Rhetorical Statements: Hai used a mix of confident claims, dismissive humor ("LOL"), and self-righteous indignation to rally support from his peers. The challenge to resign if proven wrong is a bold move designed to show confidence and perhaps to intimidate.

• Informal vs. Formal: This unfiltered communication reveals far more personal animosity and aggressive tactics than any public or legal statement would. It suggests that behind the formal legal and corporate communications, there is a very intense and personal conflict playing out.

All of these are in stark contrast with the social media postings that could read about on Hai's LinkedIn and Facebook page . Behind the AI-generated facade seems to be something much more troubled.

😰 The consistently poor behavior from the suspects

These are not the first incidents, imagine that I have been living under constant scrutiny from both of them and even some investors, unknowingly for a long time, before I could not take it anymore. One of the main reasons I stepped down on 9th July 2024, was because of this consistent abusive behaviors. It was subtle at first, but over time it became mentally and financially abusive — and at times crossed into physical intimidation — pushing me to work extra hard for ... nothing.

Let me remind you while I have spent almost every single day at various labs, trying to understand the sand battery technology, from its infancy at my balcony, to the small garage lab, and then eventually the bigger labs. I put them all in motion: I was the one scouting lab locations, planning the moves, and working alongside the engineers to relocate the equipment, while the two other co-founders worked from home and, at times, took extended leave.

I suggest you don't just rely on my own interpretations, form your own conclusions by looking at various postings from Hai , Nam on various social media platforms, and also look at my past posts as well.

"Ở trong chăn mới biết chăn có rận"

🗞️ The media finally joined in

Thanks to Kristie Neo for being the first independent reporter to bring this story into the open. Check out her article on Substack:

Vietnam’s Alterno: A co-founder marriage gone horribly wrong

When 2+1 doesn’t equal 3

Kristie’s Substack Kristie Neo

“This is not a matter of money or shares. I don't want fame. I don't want money. The compensation is an outcome of this, but it's not important to me. The important thing is that I can expose the wrongdoing and the ones who are behind this is Nam and Hai”

This is far from the end, in fact, this is the beginning of the chapter when shit hit the fan.

The best is yet to come...

To be continued in Part 15 – See you in Court.