Brock Pierce Served Court Papers for Fraud Lawsuit at His Own Presidential Campaign Rally
Brock Pierce (CoinDesk archives)
U.S. presidential candidate and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce was apparently served legal papers relating to a lawsuit alleging securities fraud during his campaign rally in New York on Monday.
- Video footage posted to Twitter on Tuesday shows Pierce receiving what appear to be court documents resulting from a class action lawsuit brought against the founders and former executives of blockchain developer Block.one.
- Lawyer James Koutoulas, who tweeted the video said his team had served Pierce for his alleged involvement in the EOS token sale, which raised $4.1 billion between June 2017 and June 2018.
- “When you’re trying to avoid getting served for a multi B fraud case, maybe lay off outlandish presidential campaigns,” Koutoulas wrote.
- Lead plaintiff Crypto Assets Opportunity Fund is accusing Block.one, CEO Brendan Blumer, CTO Dan Larimer, former CSO Brock Pierce and former partner Ian Grigg of deceiving investors over the token sale and are seeking damages.
- Block.one is a private blockchain company that began in 2017 and is best known for developing the EOS.IO protocol – for which the EOS token is the native cryptocurrency.
- In September 2019, Block.one reached a settlement with the SEC and agreed to pay $24 million in damages for running an unregistered securities sale in exchange for waiving legal restrictions.
- However, Jenny Vatrenko, legal director at Haven Network, replied to comments on Twitter, saying: “Fortunately for the investors who lost money, they have a private cause of action against Block.one that’s not precluded by the SEC’s settlement.”
- Pierce announced his presidential bid back in July, but missed filing deadlines in several states to place his name on the ballot.
- Pierce has also co-founded other crypto projects including stablecoin Tether (originally called Realcoin) and Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm.
- Once a child actor, Pierce appeared in several Disney films including “The Mighty Ducks” and “First Kid.”
