United States District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request to hold a pre-trial conference or require an extra filing. The ruling leaves the commission in a disadvantaged position as it moves forward in its case against Justin Sun.
On Aug. 19, Judge Ramos ruled in favor of Justin Sun as he goes up against the US SEC in court. The court declined the SEC’s request to hold a pre-trial conference or require an extra filing. Many consider this move by the financial regulator as an attempt to undermine Sun’s defense strategy as he continues to seek dismissal of the case.
SEC challenges the argument by Sun’s defense team
In a letter to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 12, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Sun’s defense of improperly introducing a new argument.
The SEC contended that Tron’s defendants had introduced a ‘new’ claim regarding the ‘common enterprise’ prong of the Howey Test, despite Sun having referenced it in his dismissal motion several months prior.
The SEC argued that Sun’s defense had previously only addressed the investment of money and expectation of profits aspects of the Howey Test and had not initially challenged the common enterprise prong. Consequently, the SEC requested a pre-trial conference.
In light of these accusations, Sun’s defendants fought back, writing a message to the court’s Judge, Edgardo Ramos. They pointed out that the SEC was trying to create a controversy and asked the court to deny their request for a pre-trial conference.
On Aug. 19, Judge Ramos ruled in favor of the defense, stating that a new argument had been introduced, hence rejecting SEC’s requests.
The SEC’s lawsuit against Tron’s Justin Sun
In March 2023, the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission initiated a lawsuit against Tron Foundation founder Justin Sun, accusing him of fraud.
According to the SEC’s filing, Justin Sun used the Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and RainBerry to tout crypto asset securities illegally, make unregistered offers and sales of TRX and BTT, and engage in manipulative trading.
The SEC also announced its charges against multiple celebrities tied to these three companies, including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul, who had previously promoted TRON tokens.
The SEC said in its press release on March 22, 2023:
As alleged, Sun and his companies not only targeted U.S. investors in their unregistered offers and sales, generating millions in illegal proceeds at the expense of investors, but they also coordinated wash trading on an unregistered trading platform to create the misleading appearance of active trading in TRX.
Following these claims, came a prolonged legal battle, with Justin Sun and his defense team requesting the case be dismissed on March 28, 2024. Sun’s lawyers argued that the SEC had zero jurisdiction over foreign digital asset offerings to foreign purchasers on global platforms, briefly alluding to the ‘common enterprise’ aspect of the Howey Test.
Tron’s lawyers argued that the TRX tokens were only sold internationally and never once in the US market; they claimed the SEC did not present any evidence to show that the tokens were sold or offered to US residents.
