The SEC’s lawsuit against cryptocurrency miner DEBT Box has been dismissed without prejudice by a U.S. federal judge. The regulator was also ordered to pay nearly $1.8 million in legal costs.
In a court order filed Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby ruled that the SEC must pay most of the “reasonable” attorneys’ fees and other legal costs of just over $1.82 million petitioned by defendants in the case. I did.
In a separate filing, Judge Shelby granted the SEC’s request to dismiss the case without prejudice. This means regulators could theoretically refile charges against DEBT Box at a later date.
The SEC previously requested that the case be dismissed without prejudice after a judge threatened to impose sanctions for “false and misleading statements” the regulator made in filing the complaint. The regulator said in an earlier filing that it had requested the dismissal to allow a new team of lawyers to “determine whether it is appropriate to recommend to the Commission that it proceed with a new complaint.”
DEBT Box welcomed the ruling. twitter postCalling the dismissal of the case a “monumental victory,” the SEC noted that it “cannot proceed with the case as it stands.”
The SEC alleged in an August 2023 lawsuit that DEBT Box defrauded investors out of nearly $50 million by selling unregistered securities. Regulators also all one side An injunction to freeze assets against a company means that the company cannot challenge the court order.
In a March filing, Judge Shelby found that the SEC had acted “in bad faith” by making “false, misleading, and misleading” statements in obtaining the injunction. He ordered the regulator to pay sanctions, including attorney fees, incurred by the defendants in the case.
“Once Defendant received notice and had the opportunity to respond, each of the purported factual pillars the Commission had built to defeat the required showing of irreparable harm collapsed,” Judge Shelby wrote in the order.
Edited by Stacey Elliott.
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