The United States Securities and Exchange Commission have argued in a Jan. 10 filing that Blockvest founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold III falsified and, in one case, forged signatures in documents critical to the case. The commission had previously charged Blockvest with falsely declaring that its initial coin offering (ICO) was registered with the regulator. A pre-ICO? In Oct. 2018, the SEC halted Blockvest’s ICO in an emergency court order. The project had nevertheless already collected more than $2.5 million in a pre-ICO sale of its BLV token. Though the Southern California court district initially claimed that the commission failed to …

One legal team looks to lead the three ongoing suits against IFinex alleging that illegal conduct involving iFinex’s subsidiaries Tether and Bitfinex was behind Bitcoin’s (BTC) 2017 bull run. Per a Jan. 13 filing with the court of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), the counsel for Eric Young, Adam Kurtz and David Crystal are asking to be deemed “Interim Lead Counsel” for a number of parties filing similar class-action suits. Young et al are represented by law firms Radice and Kirby McInerney. Meaning of the new classification for the case Such a classification would make Young’s counsel the …

The Supreme Court of India has chosen to delay its full hearing of a high-profile case against the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) ban on banks’ dealings with crypto-related businesses. In an interview with Cointelegraph on Jan. 14, Kashif Raza — co-founder of the Indian crypto regulatory news and analysis platform Crypto Kanoon — recapped what is at stake in the case and argued that news of the delay need not dishearten the local crypto community. Constitutional contentions As previously reported, Indian crypto exchanges and other industry firms have faced a moratorium on banking services since the Indian central bank, …

Lawyers representing the messenger giant Telegram have stated that a review of financial records requested by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will take five to seven weeks to prepare. In a Jan. 9 court filing, the lawyers explained that they must analyze data protection laws in a number of foreign jurisdictions, greatly lengthening the process. The filing stated that to ensure Telegram’s compliance with all foreign data privacy laws would require an analysis of approximately 4,600 transactions, involving around 770 entities and individuals. A preliminary sample of roughly 10% of these entities implicated 12 foreign jurisdictions with …

Kik Interactive Inc. requested the formal definition of a trial date for its lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as revealed by a Jan. 9 court document. The company was charged by the SEC in June 2019 for conducting an unregistered security issuance with its $100 million initial coin offering (ICO). Kik Interactive is the Canadian developer of the Kik messenger app. It launched a successful ICO in 2017, releasing the Kin token. Though it was presented as a utility token for accessing some features of the Kik messenger, the SEC placed the company under scrutiny …

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has filed an indictment against Ethereum Foundation researcher Virgil Griffith on Jan. 7. According to a court filing on Jan. 7, a federal grand jury charged Griffith with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The act was introduced in 1977 and is a U.S. federal law authorizing the president to regulate international commerce in case of a national emergency coming from outside the country. Griffith is accused of knowingly and willfully having conspired to violate the measures taken against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea …

Decentralized management platform Aragon has begun onboarding jurors for its decentralized Aragon Court set to be launched in mid-February. Per Aragon’s official website, the company developed a community governed decentralized organization, with the objective of operating as a digital jurisdiction and an online decentralized court. By rolling out Aragon Court, the team behind the project aims to eliminate “traditional artificial barriers such as national jurisdictions or the borders of a single country” when it comes to adjudicating disputes. As of Jan. 7, Aragon Court began letting members convert the network’s native token ANT into the ANJ token, which they can …

Bitcoin (BTC) scam ads featuring the likeness of Martin Lewis have continued to appear on social media despite Lewis’ previous efforts to prevent such illegal practices. After the British financial expert settled a defamation lawsuit against Facebook for showing unendorsed fake Lewis crypto ads in 2019, new scam adverts have now been spotted on Facebook-owned Instagram. Reported by Twitter user @peterfinn5252 on Jan. 7, the scam Instagram ad shows Lewis’ face to promote a fake article pretending to be published by major British national daily tabloid The Mirror. The fake article is titled “Martin Lewis Lends a Hand to British …

The District Court for the Southern District of New York has denied a request by the United States’ securities regulator to make Telegram reveal its bank records. According to a Jan. 6 court order signed by Judge P. Kevin Caste, the court has denied an application by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “compel the production of defendant’s bank records.” Telegram must prove that its bank records comply with data privacy laws The new court decision refers to a Jan. 2 application by the SEC to compel Telegram to share the details of how the firm spent $1.7 …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has agreed to a settlement with the CEO of purported cryptocurrency company Longfin in a statement, Jan. 3. Venkata Meenavalli agreed to pay $400,000 in disgorgement and penalties to resolve the SEC’s fraud action against him, subject to court approval. The SEC’s complaint alleged that Longfin and Meenavalli falsely claimed that the company was based in the U.S. in order to gain a regulation A+ qualification for its offering. Over 400,000 Longfin shares were then allegedly distributed to Meenavalli’s affiliates, which was again misrepresented in order to gain a …

Lawyers representing encrypted messaging app Telegram have requested a United States court throw out regulator demands for its bank accounts. In a letter to Judge P. Kevin Castel at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York on Jan. 3, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP described the request from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an “unfounded fishing expedition.” Bank accounts have “no bearing” on case The SEC had demanded Telegram hand over details of how it spent the proceeds of its initial coin offering (ICO), which raised $1.7 billion. A letter to Judge Castel …

Co-founder of crypto mining giant Bitmain, Micree Zhan Ketuan, has initiated court proceedings against the company shareholders in a bid to restores his voting control of the firm. As BNN Bloomberg reported on Jan. 3, Zhan asked a Cayman Islands court to discredit Bitmain’s shareholders' decision to convert the mining company’s Class B shares to one vote per share, while previously each Class B share had come with ten votes. As such, the shareholders greatly reduced Zhan’s influence over the company. According to a 2018 initial public offering prospectus, Zhan reportedly owned nearly 4 million Class B shares — almost …