A motion case filed against Bancor – promoter of BNT Tokens (i.e. crypto asset) – has been dismissed by A Judge in Manhattan on the ground that the Court lacked jurisdiction.
The lawsuit was filed by a law firm called Selndy& Gay and Roche Cyrulnik against Bancor regarding its tokenized crypto called BNT Tokens. The lawsuit was instituted in Manhattan Court and was argued by the law firm’s associate, Timothy Holsworth, on behalf of the plaintiff.
Before Manhattan Court, Holsworth argued on the plaintiff’s behalf that BNT Tokens of Bancor are securities and therefore US Securities Laws are applicable. He further argued that the Manhattan Court has the exclusive jurisdiction to hear and pass appropriate orders.
It was alleged in the lawsuit that in order to earn clients, Bancor lied to thousands of investors in the US. Bancor made several statements in which it insisted upon the investors that BNT Tokens are not securities. In fact, they are to be regarded as crypto, alleged Holsworth during the course of his arguments.
He added that on the basis of these false promises and commitments, Bancor enticed American investors to invest in their product.
On the other hand, the counsel for the defendant argued that the Manhattan Court lacked jurisdiction in the matter. He argued that geographically and globally, US Court’s trial against Bancor would be inappropriate and will serve no purpose at all.
Defendant’s counsel informed the Court that B protocol Foundation which is a business entity belonging to Bancor is a Swiss-registered company. He apprised the Court that the offices of the company are located in several parts of the world including Israel, Switzerland, Zug, and Tel Aviv. However, the founders who created the company also reside outside the US.
In rebuttal, the plaintiff’s counsel stated that his clients purchased BNT tokens on 4th September, 2019. He stated that his client is a national as well as a resident of the United States of America. He argued that since the cause of action arose in favor of the plaintiff therefore US Courts fulfill the condition of jurisdictional ground.
The suit was filed by one William Zhang who had purchased tokenized crypto at the cost of US$ 212.50. The purchase was made through a crypto trading platform called Coss, which too is a company registered and conducting business in Singapore. The matter came up for hearing before Mr. Justice Alvin Hellerstein of Manhattan Court.
After hearing the arguments, the Judge thereafter passed the ruling. In the ruling, the judge observed that:
Evidently, the defendant neither holds any business office in the US nor it is an entity registered under the laws of the US. Therefore the argument of the plaintiff’s counsel failed to substantiate the case which could be heard by this court. The Court has come to the conclusion that this Court has no jurisdiction in the matter and therefore the lawsuit is dismissed.
The ruling when announced was appreciated globally.
