Debt Box and other defendants in a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission want the case dismissed after a court determined the agency lied to secure a temporary restraining order against them.
“The SEC misjudged this case. Attorneys for Digital Licensing, which does business as Debt Box, said they filed a motion to dismiss on Dec. 4 with Judge Robert Shelby of U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. “The SEC should not allow false stories to continue to be spread to avoid dismissals.”
The SEC obtained a temporary restraining order on freezing Debt Box assets on August 3. It was claimed that if notified that an injunction would be imposed, the company would remove evidence and secretly move assets overseas.
The agency accused the company of perpetrating a $50 million cryptocurrency fraud scheme. Debt Box sold software mining licenses tied to real-world assets that the SEC claimed were unregistered securities. Defendants refute this claim.
“These claims are not only false but do not meet basic standards of defense,” he wrote in a recent motion.
A federal court in Utah on Nov. 30 reversed the asset freeze, saying the SEC misrepresented evidence by claiming Debt Box had closed bank accounts and was trying to escape the SEC’s jurisdiction by moving to the United Arab Emirates.
The court ruled that the company did not close its bank accounts and that $720,000 in remittances that the SEC alleged was sent overseas was sent domestically.
DEBT Box said the SEC is “misrepresenting the state of the law regarding cryptocurrency assets” through “fatally flawed claims.”
The SEC’s misrepresentations prompted Shelby to issue a “show cause order,” ordering the regulator to show cause why it should not be punished for its conduct.
The SEC’s “shocking” actions should be punished, Ripple executives say.
David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer, said the SEC’s actions were “shocking.”
He said in a December 5
Related: ‘We had to change our strategy,’ the SEC enforcement chief said of the latest actions.
Ripple advocate John Deaton wants regulators to force Debt Box to pay for the damage done to it.
The Debt Box case is a great example of why Judge Netburn felt he had to do or say anything to advance his agenda and show the world that the SEC’s lawyers “lacked true loyalty to the law.”
At Debt Box, the SEC successfully obtained a temporary ban… https://t.co/Qr2jrOyb1J
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) December 5, 2023
Four principals of Debt Box – Jason Anderson, his brother Jacob Anderson, Schad Brannon, Roydon Nelson and 13 others – were included in the SEC’s action.
magazine: Cryptocurrency Regulation: Does SEC Chairman Gary Gensler have the final say?