U.S. Fed's Vice Chair Barr Suggests CBDC Decision Remains a ‘Long Way’
Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex CEO Faruk Özer Sentenced to 11,196 Years in Prison for Collapse
DeFi and Credit Risk
Tether (USDT) wants law firm Roche Freedman "terminated" as counsel in the Bitfinex and Tether class-action litigation, in response to Kyle Roche's demand to be removed as counsel in the case.
The law firm representing Tether and Bitfinex, Elliot Greenfield of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, requested on Wednesday that Roche's law firm be removed from the case entirely and certify that they have returned or destroyed all defendant-issued documents and have not shared them with any third party, including Ava Labs.
The move comes shortly after Roche filed a motion to withdraw from the Tether class-action lawsuit, amid the ongoing fallout from a recent CryptoLeaks expose alleging the US lawyer had a hidden contract to "damage" Ava Labs competitors in exchange for AVAX tokens and Ava Labs ownership.
Greenfield stated that Roche's statements on the CryptoLeaks website generated a "severe worry" that Kyle Roche "may be abusing the discovery process" and "misusing material" learned through litigation:
"He claims to be Ava Lab's 'crypto expert,' having'sued half the companies in the field' and 'know[ing] where this market is heading,' having'seen the insides of every single crypto company.'"
Greenfield stated that the concerns are very pertinent to the case, pointing out that Roche Freedman LLP "has served a series of document requests seeking information that has no obvious link to the claims and defenses in this complaint."
The lawyer has also emphasized the importance of keeping the documents secret "because they contain not only confidential, competitively sensitive information about Defendants' businesses, but also information that, if disclosed, would jeopardize the privacy and security of Defendants and their customers."
While Kyle Roche has filed motions to withdraw from the case and others, Greenfield stated that Roche's removal "does little if anything to address the serious issues about the potential misuse of discovery:"
"Even if he is no longer counsel of record, he would maintain access to discovery documents, dictate the conduct of other lawyers at his firm, and profit from any potential recovery in this litigation."
Greenfield went on to say that the "removal would not harm Plaintiffs," because they will be represented by "two other substantial and experienced companies," including Selendy Gay Elsberg PLLC and Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP.
Tether and Bitfinex were accused of manipulating the cryptocurrency market by releasing unbacked USDT "in an effort to signal to the market that there was massive, organic demand for crypto goods," according to a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019.
Roche has also withdrew from the Binance, Solana, Tron, BitMEX, Nexo, and Dfinity litigation in recent days.
=========
