A group of investors who did business with defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX on Wednesday filed a class-action lawsuit against several internet influencers, alleging that the creators promoted unregistered securities to their viewers and followers while encouraging them to use the defunct platform.
the Requests It is seeking more than $1 billion in damages and has been sued against creators who reached millions online, including cryptocurrency YouTuber BitBoy Crypto, funding YouTuber Graham Stephan and seven others, and asset management firm Talent Creators Agency.
Stephen did not immediately respond to requests for comment Decode. Armstrong said Decode that he has not received any dollars from cryptocurrency exchange FTX, adding that he plans to “demonstrate immediately.”
A counterclaim or counterclaim occurs when the defendant files a lawsuit against the plaintiff.
“I have never spoken to anyone at FTX or as a marketing agent acting on their behalf. Not once,” he said via a direct message on Twitter. “So the accusations against me are 100% false and it would be very easy to provide proof of that.”
The “authenticated and promoted” unregistered securities were performance accounts filed by FTX, the lawsuit, adding that creators were paid to support cryptocurrency platform FTX, which was a “fraudulent scheme.” […] Designed to benefit investors around the world.”
Oklahoma native Edwin Garrison led the lawsuit. While the lawsuit was filed in Miami Circuit Court for the Southern District of Florida, the plaintiffs also include residents of the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Defendants in the case are liable for damages for “misrepresentations and omissions with respect to the FTX platform” and played a critical role in bringing up the collapsed business, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit states that “FTX would not have reached such a high level without the massive influence of these influencers, who promoted the deceptive FTX platform in return for undisclosed payments ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to multimillion-dollar bribes.”
The lawsuit alleges that YouTube played a major role in how influencers promoted FTX, stating that the video-streaming platform is more popular than television networks.
After FTX collapsed, several of the defendants “removed all videos promoting FTX and praising Sam Bankman-Fried from their YouTube channels” and replaced them with apology videos, the lawsuit states.
The class action lawsuit is a consolidation of others filed against FTX founder and former CEO Sam-Bankman Fried, various employees of the cryptocurrency exchange, and famous brand ambassadors, including retired National League football player Tom Brady, model Gisele Bundchen, and comedian Larry David.
FTX, once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, crashed in November after a sharp drop in its parent cryptocurrency FTT sent stocks running. The run revealed that FTX was not holding a one-to-one reserve of client assets because it was unable to meet client withdrawals, forcing it to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried was later arrested and charged with a series of financial crimes related to his cryptocurrency work, though he pleaded not guilty to all of them. However, some FTX members, such as Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty to crimes related to FTX’s bankruptcy and are cooperating with the authorities.
Bankman Fried was indicted last month on other charges related to alleged illegal campaign donations. His criminal trial is scheduled for October.
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