Block.One sued for violation of securities laws during ICO EOS
Crypto Assets Opportunity Fund LLC on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against the Block.One company behind the development of the EOS cryptocurrency. Its defendants also include its CEO Brendan Blamer, technical director Dan Larimer, former partner Jan Grigg and former adviser Brock Pierce, writes The Block.
According to the plaintiffs, Block.One distributed untrustworthy and misleading information about EOS among investors in an effort to raise billions of dollars through unregistered sale of securities. The plaintiffs call themselves investors of the EOS token sale, during which Block.One managed to raise over $ 4 billion.
“In order to increase the demand and profits from the sale of EOS securities, defendants violated securities laws by making false and misleading statements about EOS, which led to an artificial increase in the value of EOS securities and caused damage to unsuspecting investors” , - the text of the document says.
Pierce, Blamer and Larimer founded Block.One in 2017, intending to launch a blockchain platform with a special focus on decentralization. Later, they conducted the initial placement of EOS coins, originally in the form of ERC20 tokens. Subsequently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a company claim with a fine of $ 24 million.
The organizers of the new lawsuit appeal to the arguments of the SEC, which really claimed that the company carried out an unregistered sale of securities. According to the document, the defendants “aggressively” promoted EOS among American investors and stated that their blockchain would surpass all existing ones. Presumably, they called their project among potential investors "Ethereum on steroids."
Failing to meet technological expectations and not ensuring sufficient decentralization of the network, Block.One misled investors, claimants say. “Contrary to the defendants' false statements, as it was gradually established during the actions that caused the lawsuit, the EOS blockchain was extremely centralized and did not surpass other blockchains already in operation,” the plaintiffs add.
Crypto Assets Opportunity Fund LLC on Monday filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against the Block.One company behind the development of the EOS cryptocurrency. Its defendants also include its CEO Brendan Blamer, technical director Dan Larimer, former partner Jan Grigg and former adviser Brock Pierce, writes The Block.
According to the plaintiffs, Block.One distributed untrustworthy and misleading information about EOS among investors in an effort to raise billions of dollars through unregistered sale of securities. The plaintiffs call themselves investors of the EOS token sale, during which Block.One managed to raise over $ 4 billion.
“In order to increase the demand and profits from the sale of EOS securities, defendants violated securities laws by making false and misleading statements about EOS, which led to an artificial increase in the value of EOS securities and caused damage to unsuspecting investors” , - the text of the document says.
Pierce, Blamer and Larimer founded Block.One in 2017, intending to launch a blockchain platform with a special focus on decentralization. Later, they conducted the initial placement of EOS coins, originally in the form of ERC20 tokens. Subsequently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a company claim with a fine of $ 24 million.
The organizers of the new lawsuit appeal to the arguments of the SEC, which really claimed that the company carried out an unregistered sale of securities. According to the document, the defendants “aggressively” promoted EOS among American investors and stated that their blockchain would surpass all existing ones. Presumably, they called their project among potential investors "Ethereum on steroids."
Failing to meet technological expectations and not ensuring sufficient decentralization of the network, Block.One misled investors, claimants say. “Contrary to the defendants' false statements, as it was gradually established during the actions that caused the lawsuit, the EOS blockchain was extremely centralized and did not surpass other blockchains already in operation,” the plaintiffs add.