In a recent development, a United States court has issued a summons to Tron founder Justin Sun’s Singapore address, as part of an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case. The legal action against Sun, a prominent figure in the crypto world, showcases the SEC’s continued pursuit of alleged securities law violators.
The SEC’s case against Justin Sun and celebrities
On April 12, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York instructed Sun to respond to the summons within 21 days by contacting SEC attorney Adam Gottlieb. Failure to do so would result in “judgment by default,” indicating potential penalties for alleged securities law violations. Sun’s social media presence shows that he has recently been in Hong Kong, while his Twitter bio lists his location as Switzerland.
On March 23, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry, accusing them of orchestrating the “unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting” of Tron TRX as a crypto asset security.
The financial regulator claims that Sun engaged in “manipulative wash trading” to drive public interest in TRX and BitTorrent (BTT) with the help of celebrities such as Soulja Boy, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, and Akon.
All celebrities allegedly involved in the scheme have settled with the regulator, except for Austin Mahone and Soulja Boy. If the SEC prevails in the case, it plans to “permanently prohibit” Sun from acting as an officer or director of any firm offering crypto securities.
