The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an amended complaint on April 18 in its case against Justin Sun and other defendants, asserting that Sun’s alleged visits to the United States should give the SEC the jurisdiction needed to take legal action. The regulator claimed that Sun had traveled extensively to the US while engaging in unregistered offers and sales of BTT and TRX tokens. According to the SEC, Sun spent over 380 days in the US between 2017 and 2019, conducting business trips to major cities such as New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, and San Francisco, on behalf of the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent Foundation – both of which are also defendants in the case. The SEC aims to leverage these trips to establish jurisdiction over Sun and the companies for regulatory and legal enforcement in the US.
The SEC alleges that Sun and the companies participated in a wash trading scheme on the now-defunct crypto exchange Bittrex. While the original complaint mentioned similar wash trading activities, it only referred to the exchange where it occurred as an unnamed “trading platform.” The SEC pointed out that Bittrex is an American-based exchange in addition to its other arguments for asserting personal jurisdiction over Sun and the defendants. The amended complaint also claims that Sun personally communicated with Bittrex around 2018 to have them list the TRX cryptocurrency. The provided documents link Sun to the companies, and he personally signed some of them.
In March, Sun requested to dismiss the SEC’s case against him, citing a lack of personal jurisdiction. His defense lawyers argued that Sun, as a foreign national, is not considered “at home” in the US, and made similar arguments for the companies involved. The dismissal request also addressed the alleged improper distributions on Bittrex, clarifying that there was no evidence of any US residents purchasing or attempting to purchase TRX on the undisclosed platform. The SEC initially filed the lawsuit against Sun and the other defendants in March 2023, focusing on claims of personal jurisdiction relating to investor targeting in the Southern District of New York and celebrity promoters using social media to reach individuals in the US.
Legal Proceedings and Settlement
The SEC separately sued Bittrex in April 2023, reaching a settlement by August of the same year. Eventually, the company ceased its global operations by the end of 2023. The legal battle between the SEC, Justin Sun, and the other defendants continues as the regulatory body asserts its claims of jurisdiction over the alleged misconduct involving BTT and TRX tokens. Sun’s visits to the US and his interactions with American-based exchanges and regulators have become key points in the ongoing legal proceedings initiated by the SEC. The outcome of this case could have significant implications for the cryptocurrency market and regulatory landscape in the US and beyond.
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