The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an amended complaint in its lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun, arguing that because he "traveled extensively" to the U.S., the case falls under the country's jurisdiction.
In the complaint, the SEC notes that over three years from 2017 to 2019, Sun spent around 380 days in the U.S., undertaking business trips to New York City, Boston and San Francisco in 2019. The SEC also pointed to Sun's stays at a apartment in the U.S. rented by Rainberry, one of the firms named in the lawsuit.
In March 2023, the SEC charged Sun and his "wholly-owned" companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Limited, and Rainberry Inc, with offering unregistered securities in the form of the Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) cryptocurrencies. The lawsuit also alleged that Sun and his companies manipulated the secondary market for TRX through "extensive wash trading."
The SEC also accused Sun of orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paula and Soulja Boy to promote TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation.
Sun has vigorously denied the allegations, calling the SEC's lawsuit "the latest example of actions it has taken against well known players in the blockchain and crypto space," and arguing that its case "lacks merit."
Last month, Sun and the Tron Foundation filed to have the SEC's lawsuit dismissed, claiming that it had overreached its jurisdiction and was seeking to "extend U.S. securities laws to cover predominantly foreign conduct," acting as a "worldwide regulator."
In its amended complaint, the SEC asserted that it has jurisdiction over Sun and his firms since they "purposefully took actions in and directed toward the United States," including promoting TRX and BTT to U.S. investors, and wash trading TRX on U.S.-based exchange Bittrex.
The ongoing lawsuit doesn't appeared to have dampened Sun's enthusiasm; earlier this week, Tron announced the release of "The Tron Anthem," an orchestral piece "inspired by Justin Sun" and written by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.