11 class actions have been filed against 42 crypto companies in New York by law firm Roche Freedman, including well-known crypto exchanges Binance, Kucoin, BitMex, HDR Global Trading Limited, Block.one, Quantstamp, KayDex, Civic, BProtocol, Status and the Tron Foundation on April 3. Additionally, crypto industry leaders Changpeng Zhao, Dan Larimer and more from the companies highlighted have also been named.
Facing accusations similar to the ones Telegram is currently fighting against with the US Securities and Commission, the law firm is suing the seven companies for the illegal and unlicensed sale of tokens that constitute as securities, and also for market manipulation. In addition to that, these firms have deliberately concealed information from investors that would reveal the true nature of these tokens as securities.
According to CoinTelegraph, the involved tokens are BIX, EOS, BNT, SNT, QSP, KNC, TRX, FUN, ICX, OMG, LEND, ELF, TOMO and CVC.
It remains to be seen how legal proceedings will occur considering the numerous jurisdictions some of the companies involved in the class action suits, as many of them are registered and based overseas outside of the US. Only 7 out of the 42 companies mentioned are located in New York.
However, we can expect more cases emerging in the future which accuse past token sales of violating securities laws, as the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) successful lawsuit against Telegram in March may well set a precedent for other similar disputes as well.
