By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 30th, 2024
The SEC claims that it has reasons to believe that Justin Sun “travelled extensively” throughout the US in the period under review.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an amended suit against Tron founder Justin Sun. The suit is a follow-up to a previous one which Sun sought to dismiss in March over claims that the regulator had no jurisdiction.
In the new suit, however, the SEC claims that it has reasons to believe that Justin Sun “traveled extensively” throughout the US in the period under review. More than just traveling, Sun and his businesses also “purposefully took actions in and directed toward the United States. According to the SEC, that gives the commission enough “personal jurisdiction” over Sun, Tron, and two other businesses linked to him.
In the amended filing submitted to a Manhattan federal court, the SEC argues that Sun spent no less than 380 days in the country. That is between 2017 and 2019. He allegedly spent the time on business trips to Boston, San Francisco, New York City, and Massachusetts while representing the Tron Foundation and his alter ego firms — the BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the allegations from the original lawsuit remain unchanged. The SEC insists that Sun and his businesses sold unregistered securities through the Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens. The filing also alleges that Sun was involved in “manipulative wash trading”. According to the SEC, the wash trading took place on the Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex.
Justin Sun Counters SEC
As earlier mentioned, Sun had asked the court to dismiss SEC’s suit in late March. The Chinese-born Grenadian citizen argued that the SEC was trying to apply US security laws to “predominantly foreign conduct”. He told the court that the regulator had no authority over him or the Singapore-based Tron Foundation.
Sun also defended the TRX and BTT tokens sales. He claimed they were sold “entirely overseas,” with conscious efforts being put into avoiding the US market. Sun was also quick to note that the SEC avoided claiming that the tokens “were offered or sold initially to any US residents”.
As of publication, neither Sun nor his lawyers have issued any official statement in response to the amended suit.