by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 28 – The SEC's case against Terraform Labs is moving toward a January 2024 trial. That is, unless summary judgment is granted - arguments were held on November 30.
On November 17 US District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff held a hearing on potential trial experts. Inner City Press live tweet, thread.
Five days later, Judge Rakoff barred defense experts Unny and Parlour - and in Montenegro, the Basic Court in Podgorica approved the extradition of Terra founder Do Kwon, with the destination of the extradition to be made by the Montenegrin justice minister after Kwon serves out his four-month prison sentence in Montenegro for document forgery.
On November 30, there were summary judgment motion arguments. Inner City Press was there and live tweeted, thread
More (Nov 30) on Substack here
On December 28 Judge Rakoff issued a 71 page order that " grants summary judgment for the SEC on Count IV of the Amended Complaint, involving defendants' unregistered offers and sales of LUNA and MIR in violation of Sections 5(a) and (5c) of the Securities Act; grants summary judgment for defendants on Counts V and VI of the Amended Complaint, involving the alleged unregistered offers of and transactions in security-based swaps; and denies both sides' cross-motions for summary judgment on the remaining claims (Counts I-III) of fraud. The Clerk is respectfully directed to close document 71 on the docket of this case. As previously and firmly scheduled, the jury trial of the remaining claims in this case will commence at 9:30am on Monday, January 29, 2024. However, to accommodate other cases before other judges, the selection of the jury to hear the case will occur at 10:00am on the prior Wednesday, January 24, 2024. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Jed S. Rakoff on 12/28/2023)"
The ruling also says, "The Montenegrin authorities did not so oblige, and Kwon thus did not submit a declaration. Kwon now argues that granting summary judgment for the SEC in the absence of such a declaration violates his Fifth Amendment right to procedural due process. That argument wins credit for color, but that is all." Full order on Patreon here
On December 4, counsel to Terra and Do wrote in to Judge Rakoff raising the threat to sanction the SEC (for misleading) by Utah federal Judge Robert J. Shelby in SEC v. Digital Licensing Inc, filing on Patreon here
On November 27, Judge Rakoff ordered whistleblowers' identity and information taken off, among other platforms, CourtListener: "v***SELECTED PARTIES*** ORDER: The Court respectfully directs the Clerk to modify the viewing level to Selected Parties for the documents numbered 103-24 and 103-59 on the docket of this case, so that only attorneys who have entered an appearance in the case for the SEC, Do Hyeong Kwon, or Terraform Labs PTE Ltd. may view these two documents. The Court further directs that unredacted versions of these documents be removed from third party reporting services, including Lexis CourtLink and CourtListener. The Court puts the parties on notice, however, that should this case proceed to trial, the Court will revisit the issue of whether whistleblower names may remain confidential. (Signed by Judge Jed S. Rakoff on 11/27/2023)." We aim to have more on this.
The SDNY criminal case is US v. Kwon, 23-cr-151 (Cronan)
More on Substack here
The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd. et al., 23-cv-1346 (Rakoff)
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