SEC Claims Justin Sun’s Alleged Visits to US Grant it Personal Jurisdiction to Pursue Legal Action
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an amended complaint in its case against Justin Sun and other defendants, arguing that Sun’s alleged visits to the US should grant it the jurisdiction required to pursue legal action. The regulator alleged that Sun “traveled extensively” to the US while carrying out unregistered offers and sales of BTT and TRX tokens.
According to the SEC, Sun spent over 380 days in the US between 2017 and 2019, making business trips to major cities such as New York City, Boston, and San Francisco on behalf of the Tron Foundation and the BitTorrent Foundation – both of which are also named as defendants in the case. The SEC wants to use these trips to claim jurisdiction over Sun and the companies to pursue regulatory and legal action in the US.
The amended complaint also alleges that Sun and the companies engaged in a wash trading scheme on the now-defunct crypto exchange Bittrex. The agency included the fact that Bittrex is based in the US alongside its other claims to personal jurisdiction over Sun and the other defendants.
The latest allegations address the concerns raised by Sun in his request to dismiss the SEC case in March due to a lack of personal jurisdiction. Defense lawyers argued that Sun is a foreign national and not “at home” in the US. The SEC sued Sun and the other defendants in March 2023, primarily based on personal jurisdiction claims around sales focused on investors in the Southern District of New York.
The SEC separately sued Bittrex in April 2023 and settled the case in August 2023. The company halted operations globally in late 2023. The case continues to unfold as the SEC seeks to pursue legal action against Sun and the other defendants based on their alleged activities in the US.
