SEC says Justin Sun ‘traveled extensively’ to US, giving sway to lawsuit

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adjusted its legal action against Tron founder Justin Sun. They argue that Sun has frequently moved around within the country, allowing the SEC to exercise jurisdiction over him in this case.

The regulator claims it has the authority to take legal action against Sun, Tron, and two other companies Sun oversees because they intentionally carried out activities and targeted the US market. This was stated in an amended complaint filed with a federal court in Manhattan on April 17th.

The SEC alleges that the Sun made a total of more than 380 days’ worth of visits to New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, and San Francisco in the United States between 2017 and 2019 for business purposes.

The lawsuit claimed that these trips were organized under the names of the Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry, which were identified as Sun’s “associated entities” in the court document.

Last month, the SEC brought up once more their claims from the initial lawsuit against Sun and his companies. They accused Sun of selling unregistered securities through TRX and BTT tokens, and engaging in manipulative practices called wash trading. In simpler terms, the SEC is repeating their accusations from last month that Sun illegally sold certain securities using TRX and BTT tokens, and engaged in deceitful trading activities to artificially inflate token prices.

The SEC carefully claimed that TRX and BTT were marketed, made available, and transacted to “American consumers and investors.”

During the period when TRX and BTT were being promoted, offered for sale, and actually sold, Sun made numerous trips to the United States.

The report additionally stated that Sun’s questionable TRX trades, which were allegedly wash trades, occurred on the cryptocurrency exchange based in Seattle called Bittrex.

Around the end of March, Sun, who is a Chinese national holding Grenadian citizenship, contested the lawsuit. He claimed that the SEC’s application of U.S. securities laws to primarily foreign actions was unwarranted and they lacked authority over him personally and the Singapore-based Tron Foundation.

The man asserted that both TRX and BTT tokens were exclusively bought from other countries, with efforts made to exclude U.S. investors during sales; it’s important to note that the SEC didn’t accuse these tokens of being originally distributed to American residents.

Sun’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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2024-04-19 10:06