Investors have accused Status Research (SNT) co-founders of conducting an unlawful offer and sale of unregistered securities. Plaintiffs suing the Switzerland-headquartered company pleaded a New York federal judge that U.S. securities laws apply to their proposed class-action lawsuit.
The complaint:
- Former investor Joel Deutsch alleges that co-founders Carl Bennetts and Jarrad Hope of Status Research & Development sold unregistered SNT tokens in 2017 as part of Status' initial coin offering (ICO) "as part of an industry-wide failure to follow federal and state laws."
- Status' legal counsel filed a motion to dismiss the suit in December 2020, suggesting that Deutsch has no standing for claiming harm since his shares doubled after his purchase.
- Status Research also stated in its motion that Deutsch bought his SNT tokens on a foreign exchange platform that exists outside U.S. jurisdiction.
- A modified motion filed Jan. 14 cites that the blockchain company pays multiple employees residing in the U.S.
- SNT is still listed on many crypto exchanges and had a $219M market cap as of the time of publication.