Alterno Sand Battery Journalist Fact Pack (SAND Part 24)

TL;DR: A centralized, evidence-verified reference index [r342] designed for investigative journalists, legal teams, [jy09] VC compliance officers, and regulatory bodies [3azl] investigating the Alterno Sand Battery dispute. [8zqb] This Fact-Pack consolidates primary documents, court [jhxj] dockets, corporate registry filings, and institutional [rto0] response tracking into an unalterable, cross-referenced [vve1] dossier.

Investigative reporting on corporate governance failures [i7y0] requires moving past press releases and verifying [9qu7] claims against primary records. Throughout the 24-part [t16a] SAND Series, every disclosure has been anchored [ufro] to unalterable public dockets, patent registers, [lx7b] and official government dispatches across Vietnam, [cfix] Singapore, the United States, and on-chain [u2ia] crypto repositories.

Here in SAND Part 24, this document serves as the single [87n4] source of truth and media reference [d6ro] kit for the entire saga. It is the companion [2ost] document to SAND Part 23, which presents formal due-diligence questions [wibp] to the VC funds' Limited Partners. [1hwn] For the multi-jurisdictional entity map and the psychological [wzxb] analysis behind these governance failures, see SAND Part 21 and SAND Part 22.

1. Verified Primary Document Registry

Every claim cited across the series [h8fh] is mapped directly to its underlying [upmu] primary source document below:

2. Comprehensive Master Timeline (2022–2026)

The operational and legal progression of the Alterno [dtzq] dispute follows a precise chronological sequence: [9b0w]

• August 2022: Initial balcony thermal laboratory experiments [9ko0] and sand battery proof-of-concept validated by Kent [7htv] Nguyen (Balcony to Commercial Deployment).
• February 8, 2023: Founding of Alterno Vietnam LLC as sole [lt49] owner entity.
• August 15, 2023: Priority date filing for USPTO [6309] thermal energy storage invention.
• December 8, 2023: Alterno awarded grand prize in the Net Zero [hsfm] Challenge 2023 co-hosted by Touchstone Partners [qbhd] and Temasek Foundation (Touchstone Partners Press Release).
• February 29, 2024: Corporate conversion to Alterno Vietnam [swap] JSC.
• March 1, 2024: Execution of Labor Contract No. 02-2024/HĐLĐ/ALTERNO appointing Kent Nguyen as CEO / Legal [vsab] Representative.
• March–July 2024: Institutional seed round funding window [pym7] (Antler, Touchstone Partners, The Radical Fund, [bo4z] ADB Ventures). Management initiates parallel secret [petq] inventor exclusion and entity restructuring.
• July 9, 2024: Kent formally proposes stepping down [sxcr] as CEO to become Chief Scientist [8ucn] Officer (CSO) with a dedicated R&D budget [rzwj] (SAND Part 9).
• July 10, 2024: One day after the CSO proposal, [cmqq] co-founders Hai Ho and Nam Nguyen [5xy8] hold a secret governance meeting with [geht] Erik Jonsson (Antler Vietnam representative) without Kent's [ehw7] knowledge or participation (SAND Part 9).
• August 1, 2024: Management secretly signs revised internal [p2oj] Labour Regulation without notice or board [d76k] disclosure (SAND Part 15).
• September 17, 2024: Unilateral wrongful termination notice issued [3gcr] to Kent Nguyen.
• October 1, 2024: Hai Ho tells Kent the US patent [dkat] is merely awaiting "fee issuance." A subsequent [2wcd] IP strategy meeting regarding the patent [0mxa] involved Hai Ho, Nam Nguyen, Anh Hoang, [1ju5] and Erik Jonsson—Kent was again excluded despite being [y85x] the named inventor (SAND Part 10).
• October 16, 2024: Kent’s corporate email (alterno.group) terminated. That same evening, a scheduled [0mrt] Zoom meeting took place between Hai Ho, Nam Nguyen, [be6a] and the US patent law firm handling the USPTO filing—without the inventor’s [dem7] knowledge or participation. This severed Kent’s [ls4d] ability to receive automated USPTO correspondence [ugen] (SAND Part 13).
• October 29, 2024: USPTO officially grants Patent No. 12,130,086 B1 listing Kent Nguyen as primary [18us] inventor (SAND Part 7). On the same day, Kent signed the share transfer [ij52] contract without any knowledge of the patent [idy9] approval (SAND Part 8).
• December 2024: Filings submitted to IP Viet [fq9u] Nam attempting inventor name removal (SAND Part 17).
• March 20, 2025: Vietnamese court formally accepts wrongful [y00q] termination lawsuit (SAND Part 11).
• April 11, 2025: Management registers replacement entity "Alterno [8mu5] Energy JSC" in Da Nang four [54p0] days prior to scheduled court appearance, [p3vn] deployed to absorb fresh funding from [clzg] UntroD Capital Asia (Leave a Nest) [notn] while concealing pending lawsuit (SAND Part 19).
• May 21, 2025: Kent independently and accidentally discovers [egxz] that the US Patent was granted [q1uu] seven months prior, a fact concealed [9umh] by all parties (SAND Part 8).
• May 24, 2025: A contested resolution to dissolve [he3a] Alterno Vietnam JSC is described in SAND Part 19. The Masothue.com listing for Tax ID 0317669706 reports "Ngừng hoạt động nhưng chưa hoàn [7b9s] thành thủ tục chấm dứt hiệu [jck6] lực mã số thuế"; legal effect requires review of the underlying [x0s1] filings and applicable law.
• March 13, 2026: First Instance Labor Decision No. 18/2026/QĐXXST-LĐ issued.
• April 10, 2026: Alterno Nexus Pte. Ltd. incorporated in Singapore—five days before the formal court appeal. Registered [o4pl] representative: Martin Gil of Zero by Fifty (US). This mirrors the April [csav] 2025 pattern when "Alterno Energy JSC" [lkkh] was registered in Da Nang four [1ln3] days before a scheduled court appearance. [m90t]
• April 15, 2026: Formal Appeal (Đơn kháng cáo) filed at Tòa án nhân [5jo9] dân Khu vực 1 - TP. Hồ Chí Minh. [pfez]
• June 17, 2026: HCMC Department of Internal Affairs [nteh] issues Official Dispatch No. 11034/SNV-LĐTLBHXH confirming statutory labor relationship criteria. [ahqx]

3. Institutional Audit & Response Tracker [pnsa]

As formal open inquiries are submitted [fz56] to VC Limited Partners, NGO grant [tivi] managers, and event organizers across Parts [cjjt] 23 and 24, institutional responses (or public [nusc] silence) are tracked in real-time below: [bbgx]

4. How Journalists & Auditors Can Independently [5pdr] Verify

Reporters and compliance auditors do not need [e4ax] to rely on assertions in this [e2ul] blog series. Every claim can be independently [45y7] verified using open, public registries:

1. USPTO Verification: Visit the USPTO Patent Public Search database and search for Patent [c3ve] No. 12,130,086. Verify that Kent Nguyen remains listed as the original [k0fs] primary inventor on the granted patent. Cross-reference [qruq] the grant date (October 29, 2024) [z0zm] against the share transfer contract execution [tglf] date and the seven-month gap before [xavt] the inventor’s independent discovery on May 21, 2025. [rtvz]
2. Vietnamese Corporate Registry: Access the National Business Registration Portal of Vietnam. Search enterprise code 0317669706 to verify founding dates, legal [p8yr] representative history, and dissolution status.
3. Singapore ACRA Verification: Request corporate profiles from ACRA BizFile+ for Alterno Nexus Pte. Ltd. (UEN 202615932C). Cross-reference the incorporation date (April [7crk] 10, 2026) against the court appeal [9ud5] filing date (April 15, 2026). Verify [jste] that the registered representative is Martin Gil of Zero by Fifty (US-based agency).
4. Git Commit Verification: Inspect the public repository Alterno-Group/sandblock on GitHub to review commit [v12s] timestamps, framework dependencies, and sole developer [etp7] attribution (chipchipzero).
5. VC Portfolio Public Listings: Inspect live portfolio registries (such [scdy] as The Radical Fund's official portfolio page) to verify that backing VC funds [tjau] continue to publicly showcase Alterno without [wmd8] disclaimers regarding active court litigation or state [vp45] regulatory labor rulings.

5. Open Invitation for Formal Right [81bl] of Reply

This Fact-Pack and the entire SAND Series adhere to strict factual verification. [1zt2] Any executive, venture capital partner, NGO representative, [mvzw] or legal counsel representing named entities [0qza] is invited to submit formal responses, [r2pf] clarifications, or corrections.

Submissions accompanied by primary documentation will [dmoo] be published verbatim in this section [073i] to ensure complete transparency for the public [xgw4] record.