The US SEC filed an amended complaint on April 18 in its case against Justin Sun and other defendants, arguing that Justin Sun’s alleged visits to the US should give it the jurisdiction necessary to take legal action.
The regulator alleged that Sun “traveled extensively” to the US while he and several companies conducted unregistered offers and sales of BTT and TRX tokens.
According to the watchdog, Sun spent more than 380 days in the US between 2017 and 2019, making business trips to major cities including New York City, Boston, Massachusetts and San Francisco. He carried out the trips on behalf of the Tron Foundation and the BitTorrent Foundation – both of which are also named as defendants in the case.
The SEC plans to use these trips to assert jurisdiction over Sun and the companies and take regulatory and legal action in the US.
Was trading
The SEC alleged that Sun and the companies were involved in a wash-trading scheme on the now-defunct crypto exchange Bittrex.
Although the original complaint identified many of the same wash trading activities, the exchange on which wash trading occurred was merely identified as an unnamed “trading venue.”
The agency noted the fact that Bittrex is based in the US, in addition to its other claims of personal jurisdiction over Sun and the other defendants.
The amended complaint also alleges that Sun personally communicated with Bittrex around 2018 and provided documents to provide the exchange with the TRX crypto. The documents connect Sun to the other companies, and Sun personally signed some of the documents.
Countering the dismissal request
The latest allegations address concerns raised by Sun in its request to dismiss the SEC case in March due to lack of personal jurisdiction. Defense attorneys argued that Sun is an alien and not “at home” in the U.S., and made similar arguments for the companies.
The dismissal also identified the alleged improper distributions on Bittrex, but said that “there is no allegation that any U.S. resident purchased or attempted to purchase TRX on this unidentified platform, or that the attempt to list TRX was passed.”
The SEC sued Sun and the other defendants in March 2023. At the time, she based her personal jurisdiction claims primarily on the allegation that the sales targeted investors in the Southern District of New York and the allegation that celebrity promoters contacted individuals in the US via social media. media.
The SEC separately sued Bittrex in April 2023 and settled the case in August 2023. The company ceased operations globally in late 2023.