The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will dismiss a lawsuit filed by cryptocurrency startup DEBT Box after its attorneys admitted they made inaccurate statements in court.
The agency, which first sued Digital Licensing Inc., doing business as DEBT Box, in July, told U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby in Utah that it plans to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice. This means the SEC can still re-file the case.
“The Commission has determined that the best way to proceed is to dismiss this lawsuit without prejudice. Accordingly, the Commission has approved the filing of a motion to dismiss this lawsuit without prejudice and will move forward,” SEC lawyers said in the filing. tuesday.
SEC recognize In late December, it said it had made inaccurate statements and had “fallen short” of its expectations of being accurate and candid in court. Judge Shelby criticized the agency’s attorneys and ordered the SEC “to explain.”False or misleading statements after claims that the company attempted to move assets overseas to escape the jurisdiction of regulators.
sanctions
The SEC also said sanctions were not warranted. Judge SHelvey late last year ordered the SEC to explain why sanctions should not be imposed. levy To the lawyer.
“The Commission recognizes that lawyers need to be more proactive in the courts, but sanctions are neither appropriate nor necessary to address these issues,” the SEC said Tuesday.
An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the publicly available documents. The SEC has filed several lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies over the past year, and Chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly said that most cryptocurrencies are securities.
The SEC’s lawsuit against DEBT Box alleged that it defrauded thousands of investors out of at least $49 million by offering customers so-called “node licenses” that allowed them to mine 11 tokens for profit.
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About the author
Sarah is a reporter for The Block covering policy, regulation and legal events. Sarah was previously a reporter writing about securities regulation at CQ Legal, where she first began her reporting on cryptocurrencies. She Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other financial publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Print and Digital Journalism. Sarah lives in Washington, DC and she is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.