Delos Shipping co-founder Brian Ladin has fired back at partner Richard Squires's fraud allegations against him, saying Squires' meddling with a $745m ethane newbuilding project collapsed Delos' pending deal with China's Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical (STL).

Ladin's charge comes in a countersuit in Texas state court in which he defends himself from Squires' allegations that he diverted some $4m from Delos accounts for his own purposes.