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Cristiano Ronaldo sued for promoting Binance, unregistered securities

November 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Binance

The soccer star’s Binance-tied NFTs allegedly promoted investments in unregistered securities on the crypto exchange.

Pro-soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a proposed class-action lawsuit from plaintiffs claiming they suffered losses from his promotion of the now-legally embroiled crypto exchange Binance.

A Nov. 27 filing to a Florida District Court claimed Ronaldo “promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance.”

Binance entered a multi-year partnership with Ronaldo in mid-2022 to promote a series of his own nonfungible tokens (NFT), of which he has at least three collections tied to Binance.

The complaint claims users who signed up for Ronaldo’s NFTs were more likely to use Binance for other purposes — including investing in what they claimed were unregistered securities, including Binance’s BNB (BNB) and its crypto yield programs.

“Ronaldo’s promotions solicited or assisted Binance in soliciting investments in unregistered securities by encouraging his millions of followers, fans, and supporters to invest with the Binance platform.”

Ronaldo was a key part of Binance’s growing popularity due to his influence and reach, with 850 million followers across social media, says the complaint. They allege his NFT sales were “incredibly successful” at promoting the exchange, with a 500% increase in searches for “Binance” the week following the initial sale.

Cooking something up with @binance https://t.co/FMAP5GAdxE
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) November 28, 2023

The suit alleges Ronaldo knew or should have known “about Binance selling unregistered crypto securities” as he has “investment experience and vast resources to obtain outside advisers.”

The suit cited Securities and Exchange Commission guidance, which warned celebrities of the need to disclose payments received for promoting cryptocurrencies — which the complaint claims Ronaldo didn’t do.

The class action plaintiffs are Michael Sizemore, Mikey Vongdara and Gordon Lewis, who seek damages and funds to cover legal fees.

Meanwhile, Binance and founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is facing their own legal woes, pleading guilty and paying a $4.3 billion settlement to the United States on money laundering charges and running an unregistered money-transmitting business.

Zhao stepped down as CEO and faces up to 18 months in prison. Binance agreed to up to five years of Justice Department and Treasury compliance monitoring.

The SEC has sued Binance claiming — among other charges — that it sold unregistered securities and is reportedly investigating if Binance misappropriated customer funds.

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Wallet of Satoshi vanishes from Apple and Google’s US app stores

November 24, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Apple

Apple is facing the wrath of crypto users yet again as a popular Bitcoin Lightning wallet disappeared from its U.S.-facing App Store.

Bitcoin (BTC) Lightning payments app Wallet of Satoshi (WoS) has disappeared from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the United States as it closes in on over 1 million transactions for November.

On Nov. 24, several users and crypto community participants shared on X (Twitter) their attempts to search for the WoS app, which turned up no results or redirected users to competing wallet apps.

Wallet of Satoshi banned in the US? pic.twitter.com/S44qN5UI2U
— ck (@ck_SNARKs) November 23, 2023

However, the WoS app still appeared for download on the Australian Apple App Store and the Australian and Singapore Google Play Store versions at the time of writing.

*Apple’s U.S. App Store doesn’t return results when searching for Wallet of Satoshi. Source: Apple*

Wallet of Satoshi is a popular Lightning payments platform that is on pace to process over 1.1 million Lightning payments in November, according to industry author and podcaster Kevin Rooke.

Wallet of Satoshi is on pace to process over 1.1 million Lightning payments in November.

This will be their largest month of Lightning payments ever.

⚡️ pic.twitter.com/oCxIce7kit
— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) November 22, 2023

Rooke added that it would be the firm’s “largest month of Lightning payments ever.”

Apple and Wallet of Satoshi did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

Apple levies a hefty 30% tax on in-app payments, which it maintains a tight leash over and has been a barrier for crypto platforms wanting an App Store presence.

On Nov. 17, a group of disgruntled PayPal Venmo and Block Cash App users filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company had entered into anti-competitive agreements with PayPal and Block to restrict the use of crypto technology and payments on iOS.

Apple has a history of removing crypto apps, with the firm delisting the Nostr-based Damus app over a Bitcoin tip feature in June. It also briefly pulled the MetaMask wallet app from its App Store in October.

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Apple sued for blocking crypto tech for P2P payments

November 21, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Apple

Apple faces a class action over alleged anti-competitive conduct in the iOS peer-to-peer payments market.

Disgruntled consumers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple claiming the tech giant has conspired to limit peer-to-peer payment options on its devices and block crypto technology from iOS payments apps.

The Nov. 17 complaint filed in a California District Court alleges Apple entered into anti-competitive agreements with PayPal’s Venmo and Block’s Cash App to restrict the use of decentralized cryptocurrency technology in payment apps, which caused users to pay "rapidly inflating prices."

“These agreements limit feature competition—and the price competition that would flow from it—marketwide, including by barring the incorporation of decentralized cryptocurrency technology within existing or new iOS Peer-to-Peer Payment apps,” the filing says.

The plaintiffs also claimed Apple uses “technological and contractual restraints,” including hardware-enforced App Store exclusivity and “contractual limitations on web browser technology” to “exercise unfettered control over every app installed and run on iPhones and iPads.”

With these restraints, Apple can — and does — force new to market iOS P2P payment apps to bar crypto "as a condition for entry," the suit claimed.

*Excerpt of the suit alleging Apple restricts decentralized payment technology. Source: PACER*

The plaintiffs describe themselves as customers who have paid inflated fees due to Apple’s restraints of trade across the iOS P2P payment market.

They seek to recover for excessive fees and overcharging due to Apple’s alleged anticompetitive conduct and injunctive relief barring the firm from continuing to enter into and enforce anticompetitive agreements restraining iOS P2P Payment Market competitors and would-be entrants.

The 58-page class action details the history and rise of peer-to-peer payment apps and decentralized cryptocurrencies and Apple’s entry into this market.

In April, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Apple violated California’s competition laws by not allowing apps to direct users to non-Apple linked payment solutions.

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Atomic Wallet asks to toss suit over $100M hack saying it has ‘no US ties’

November 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Atomic Wallet asks to toss suit over 0M hack saying it has ‘no US ties’

Atomic Protocol Systems

The Estonia-based firm noted that only one plaintiff in the class action lawsuit is actually based in Colorado where the suit was filed.

The company behind Atomic Wallet has asked a United States court to dismiss a class action suit seeking damages from a $100 million hack arguing the claims should’ve been filed in Estonia where it's based.

In a Nov. 16 dismissal motion in a Colorado District Court the Estonian firm argued it has “no U.S. ties” and its end-user license agreement required all litigation against it be filed in its home country of Estonia.

Atomic also argued that only one user in Colorado was allegedly affected — which wasn

The firm also claimed the 5,500 allegedly affected Atomic users agreed to its terms of service which expressly disclaims liability for losses due to theft and limits damages to $50 per user

*Atomic’s motion to dismiss the class action laid against them. Source: PACER*

Atomic said the plaintiff’s negligence claims also lack legal merit because a legal duty was never created in which they were to maintain Atomic Wallet’s security and to protect against hacking.

"This Court has repeatedly rejected similar claims because Colorado recognizes no such duty,” it wrote.

Allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation were also struck down by the Estonian-based wallet provider.

The plaintiffs launched the class action in August, two months after a $100 million exploit on Atomic Wallet took place with up to 5,500 users affected — with both North Korean and Ukrainian groups blamed for the attack.

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Court rules in favor of HelbizCoin investors, class lawsuit to go ahead

September 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

class action

A U.S. District Court has upheld claims by HBZ investors that the company acted fraudulently and also asserted that its token violated securities laws.

A United States District Court has allowed a nearly three-year-long class action lawsuit against the creators of HelbizCoin to go ahead, as per a court ruling filed on Sept. 1.

The class action suit was first brought against Helbiz, its CEO Salvatore Palella, and its partners in 2020, with an amended complaint filed in March 2022.

The case involves an Italian electric scooter-sharing company HelBiz that raised $38.6 million in an ICO and issued an ERC-20 token with one of the founders of Ethereum, Anthony Di Iorio, in 2018, according to the complaint.

A group of investors, numbering as many as 20,000, alleged that HelbizCoin was a rug pull and fraudulent pump-and-dump scheme with the firm making false statements and promises to induce people to purchase the coins. They claimed that Helbiz kept most of the money from the ICO for itself.

On Sept. 1, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York partially ruled in favor of investors who filed the class action suit, with the court granting the motions to dismiss in part and denied them in part.

*Screenshot from court ruling shared with Cointelegraph*

The court however dismissed all claims against certain defendants entirely, including Paysafe, Skrill, Decentral, and Alphabit, finding a lack of personal jurisdiction over Paysafe and Alphabit. The court also dismissed some claims against the remaining defendants for failure to state a claim, including breach of contract, tortious interference, and certain securities claims.

However, Judge Louis Stanton also ruled that plaintiffs adequately stated claims for fraud, price manipulation, violations of securities laws, commodities laws, the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, and unjust enrichment against some defendants.

“Among other matters, the case found that the ERC-20 token is a security under federal law,” the investor’s lawyer Michael Kanovitz told Cointelegraph.

The investors' lawsuit was initially dismissed by a lower court judge in January 2021, citing a 2010 Supreme Court precedent that limited the extraterritorial reach of federal securities laws, according to a report from Reuters.

However, the case was revived in October 2021 when a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the lower court judge erred in its decision, and an amended complaint was filed in March 2022.

In emailed comments to Cointelegraph, Kanovitz also pointed out that the complaint included a number of charts that use the Ethereum ledger to “prove spoof trading in the ICO.” It also included evidence of multiple "genesis wallets" that were provided to the initial investors in Ethereum, such as Mr. Di Iorio, he said before adding:

“It is a compelling story that shows how blockchain transparency can be used to flush out criminals.”

The complaint alleged that Di Iorio, an advisor to Helbiz, published false and misleading statements about the HelbizCoin ICO in Bitcoin Magazine but did not provide evidence that he made the statements.

“This is a speculative conclusion at best and thus fails to adequately allege that Di Iorio made false or misleading statements,” the ruling read.

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FTX’s former law firm hit with lawsuit alleging it set up shadowy entities

August 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Caroline Ellison

The suit claims “shadowy entities” set up by Fenwick & West were allegedly used by FTX and former top executives to misappropriate customer funds.

FTX’s former primary counsel Fenwick & West LLP has been hit with a class-action suit claiming it aided the crypto exchange’s alleged multi-billion dollar fraud.

An Aug. 7 filing by a group of FTX customers in a California District Court alleged the law firm set up several “shadowy entities” allowing FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives to adopt “creative but illegal strategies” to perpetuate fraud.

The suit claims Fenwick & West provided services to FTX that “went well beyond those a law firm should and usually does provide,” such as structuring acquisitions by FTX US in ways that circumvented regulatory scrutiny and supplying staff to execute strategies the law firm proposed.

The “shadowy entities” were named as North Dimension and North Wireless Dimension, which the suit alleged siphoned misappropriated FTX customer funds.

*Highlighted excerpt from the class complaint against Fenwick & West. Source: CourtListener*

The plaintiffs said Fenwick & West aided and abetted FTX’s alleged fraud by choosing not to intervene in a series of misrepresentations supposedly made by FTX to its customers.

There was an implied agreement between FTX US, other FTX affiliates and Fenwick & West to deceive customers, the class suit said — something that appealed to the law firm because it “stood to gain financially” from FTX’s alleged misconduct, it added.

Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX engineering lead Nishad Singh were the four so-called FTX insiders listed by the plaintiffs.

Fenwick & West was named in a similar class-action lawsuit in February that also alleged it assisted Bankman-Fried and FTX in setting up its business.

The February lawsuit — which also targeted FTX investor and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital — claimed the services provided by Fenwick & West were central to Bankman-Fried’s fraud.

The law firm recently hired peer firm Gibson Dunn to assist with legal matters related to its alleged role at FTX, according to a June 21 Reuters report.

FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 when it was unable to process a large volume of customerwithdrawals.

Bankman Fried remains under house arrest and faces 12 charges including wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. He is set to have two criminal trials in October and March.

Prosecutors said on Aug. 8 that they plan to re-add a charge relating to illegal campaign finance, which was previously dropped due to it potentially violating a treaty obligation with the Bahamas.

Cointelegraph contacted Fenwick & West for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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