Fenwick & West, a famend Silicon Valley legislation agency, has denied allegations that it performed a job in facilitating a fraud allegedly dedicated by bankrupt crypto alternate FTX.
The legislation agency has filed a movement to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that its providers offered to FTX had been customary authorized providers and that it had no information of any fraudulent actions, Bloomberg first reported.
The movement to dismiss, filed by Fenwick’s authorized staff at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, marks the agency’s first public protection in opposition to accusations associated to its involvement with FTX and its co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
FTX Customers Allege Fenwick Helped FTX Conceal Millions in Stolen Funds
FTX prospects have alleged that Fenwick aided the cryptocurrency firm in concealing tens of millions of {dollars} in funds that had been purportedly stolen from them.
In response to these allegations, Fenwick’s authorized staff, led by associate Kevin Rosen, argued that the agency’s providers for FTX might be distilled into three fundamental acts.
These embody using legal professionals who later joined FTX, forming companies utilized by Bankman-Fried for enterprise actions, and offering recommendation on regulatory compliance associated to cryptocurrency buying and selling.
The movement emphasised {that a} lawyer’s illustration of a shopper and familiarity with its workers doesn’t make them privy to the shopper’s inside operations.
It refuted the plaintiffs’ declare that Fenwick needs to be held accountable for offering “routine” and lawful authorized providers that allegedly contributed to fraudulent schemes, asserting that such a idea of legal responsibility contradicts the rules of the authorized occupation.
Fenwick, acknowledged for its work with prestigious Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Oracle, and Facebook, highlighted its popularity and integrity in its movement.
The agency expressed its concern that plaintiffs had been making an attempt to maintain it responsible for damages stemming from the collapse of 1 shopper, FTX, with out legitimate authorized grounds.
Affected FTX Customers Seek to Hold Fenwick Accountable
FTX prospects who had been affected by the November 2022 collapse have initiated a multidistrict litigation within the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
In this authorized battle, they’re searching for to maintain Fenwick accountable for its involvement with the cryptocurrency alternate.
Fenwick had served as a number one company counsel for FTX, advising on transactions, tax issues, and litigation.
The lawsuit in opposition to Fenwick is only one of a number of third-party circumstances involving FTX prospects searching for compensation for his or her losses.
These circumstances contain a spread of entities, from accounting companies to movie star endorsers.
