The New York Attorney general Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx stating that the company failed to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer in the state.
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx on the grounds that the company misrepresented itself as an exchange by failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer in the state.
James said CoinEx “engaged in repeated and persistent fraudulent acts” and broke the Martin Act, which is one of the nation’s most anti-fraud and securities regulatory statutes, in a 38-page petition submitted to the New York Supreme Court on February 22.
She also claimed that CoinEx listed a number of tokens that met the criteria for “both commodities and securities,” specifically mentioning Amp, LBRY Credits (LBC), Rally (RLY), and Terra.
In a statement on February 22, James claimed that “as is required by New York law,” CoinEx is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to sell the tokens.
The Attorney General’s Office allegedly claimed it was able to trade on the platform after setting up a CoinEx account with a computer and IP address located in New York.
The day when cryptocurrency firms like CoinEx pretended that the law did not apply to them was gone, she said.
Moreover, the petition claims that CoinEx disregarded an Attorney General’s Office subpoena issued on December 22 asking it to “give testimony on the virtual asset trading activities of its platform.”
“CoinEx was compelled by subpoena to appear for an examination under oath on January 9, 2023, and failed to appear […] CoinEx’s non-appearance is prima facie proof that CoinEx has engaged in the [mentioned] fraudulent practices.”
James is asking the court to force CoinEx to geoblock IP addresses and GPS location data coming from New York in order to prohibit it from advertising itself as an exchange and from doing business there.
