Antonopoulos Writes to Judge that Supports Lawsuit against Bitfinex for Bitcoin Manipulation

This big name in the cryptocurrency space has joined an ongoing discussion about who will lead the lawsuit against Bitfinex.  The digital asset trading platform and its affiliates are accused of the alleged market manipulation that led to Bitcoin’s bull rally in 2017.

Amid a flood of requests to lead the lawsuit, Andreas Antonopoulos supported Liebowitz’s legal team, filing a sworn statement on January 27^th, endorsing the experience of the team, which the Greek-British Bitcoin advocate has seen in action in the Kleiman vs. Wright case.

Liebowitz’s representation includes a list of attorneys from three different law firms, but Antonopoulos specifically commended Kyle Roche from Roche Cyrulnik Freedman as the reason why the firm should conduct the legal proceedings.

Before describing the firm as “exceptionally qualified to represent the members of the lawsuit,” Antonopoulos wrote about Roche. She stated that the litigating attorney has repeatedly shown a deep understanding of the technical and functional properties of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and their underlying cryptographic principles.

Struggle to Lead the Lawsuit

Antonopoulos’s opinion on the matter is only one of many submissions in recent weeks since three separate firms seek to lead the lawsuit, that is, to conduct the legal proceedings.

In recent months, Bitfinex and its parent firm Tether and iFinex have seen how four different lawsuits were filed against them. All of them claimed market manipulation and identified people in the United States of America that might have conducted transactions in Bitcoin since mid-2017, or possibly before, which is potentially a huge demographic.

The first of the four plaintiffs was Liebowitz in October, who was followed by Young in November and Ebanks and Faubus in early January. On January 28^th, the president of the court ordered that these four cases be consolidated; however, the issue of leadership has remained.

Karen Lerner, senior attorney for Young, advocated the leadership of law firms Radice, and Kirby McInerny, saying that her complaint was highlighted by the significant investment of resources that resulted from rigorous market analysis.

In turn, Kyle Roche stated that his company brings unprecedented experience and knowledge to cryptocurrency litigation. He took the opportunity to promote the lawsuit filed by Roche Cyrulnik Freedman on behalf of Liebowitz as the most solid and best investigated from the legal point of view.

Regarding the issues at stake in the case, Lerner explained that it is sought to return the money to those that have bought Bitcoin in recent years. He stated that this class action lawsuit seeks to compensate investors in Bitcoin and Bitcoin futures for damages resulting from the payment of an artificial price, compared to what they should have paid if the price had not been manipulated by the defendants.

The firms will have until February 7^th to file oppositions to the motions of each other, according to an order issued on January 28^th by the presiding judge, Failla. Probably, this is aimed at allowing companies that filed their initial complaints only in January to respond to the wave of filings in recent days.

By Alexander Salazar