In a significant development within the cryptocurrency legal landscape, a group of cryptocurrency users involved in a class-action lawsuit in Florida has reached a tentative settlement with Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX.
This agreement was disclosed in a court filing dated April 19 at the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The lawsuit, initiated by plaintiffs in November 2022 following FTX’s bankruptcy, implicated several high-profile endorsers of the exchange.
It was consolidated in June 2023, bringing a more structured approach to the multifaceted legal challenges surrounding FTX’s collapse.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Moskowitz Law Firm, known for tackling complex crypto-related lawsuits.
According to the recent court filing, the plaintiffs decided to settle with Bankman-Fried, recognizing the potential costs and lengthy process involved in continuing their lawsuit against him.
Instead, they aim to leverage his insights and the information disclosed during his criminal trial to strengthen their case against other defendants in the ongoing multidistrict litigation (MDL).
The filing details the strategic value of Bankman-Fried’s cooperation: “[Bankman-Fried] has knowledge and other information that Class Representatives and Class Counsel believe will be valuable to Class Representatives’ cases against other defendants in the FTX MDL [multidistrict litigation], particularly relating to the underlying actions and their connection to Miami, Florida, where FTX’s U.S. headquarters were based, as well as each MDL Defendants’ knowledge of and assistance with the actions and connections to other states in which jurisdictions over those Defendants is asserted.”
The proposed settlement was put forward on March 28, coinciding with Bankman-Fried’s 25-year prison sentence following his felony conviction.
This settlement needs judicial approval to finalize the resolution of the dispute between the cryptocurrency users and Bankman-Fried, effectively focusing the plaintiffs’ efforts on other involved parties.
Bankman-Fried has been advised to assist the plaintiffs in prosecuting other FTX promoters by providing documents and testimony from his trial.
The lawsuit highlights the involvement of celebrities and sports figures such as Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, and Shaquille O’Neal, who endorsed FTX before its financial turmoil.
In a related move, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys filed an appeal on April 11 against his conviction and sentence, requesting that he remains at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to facilitate his ongoing legal defense, rather than being transferred to a federal prison in the San Francisco Bay Area.
This legal battle continues to draw significant attention, spotlighting the broader implications of celebrity endorsements in cryptocurrency ventures and the pursuit of accountability in the high-stakes world of digital finance.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
