Attorney Kyle Roche claimed in a series of short, undercover films broadcast on a little-known website on Friday that he had filed fraudulent lawsuits to undermine the Avalanche blockchain’s rivals while talking about his intimate relationships with the invention’s developer.
According to statistics from The Defiant Terminal, AVAX, the native token of Avalanche, has outperformed other prominent cryptocurrencies over the weekend, falling more than 15% since Friday. AVAX is one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies in the world by market capitalization.
Emin Gün Sirer, the author of Avalanche and Roche, responded on Monday.
Sirer stated that a report accompanying the videos was a “scurrilous hit-piece” and that Roche had misrepresented his work for Ava Labs, the firm behind Avalanche, to “impress a possible business partner.”
In a second statement, Roche accused the organization behind the films of having ulterior objectives and a
“deliberate strategy to intoxicate, and then exploit me through leading questions.”
According to Roche, the individual who filmed the recordings “asked a meeting with me on the false premise of venture capital investment in a technological firm, but his true goals are now clear: to deceive and entrap me.”
The website that uploaded the recordings, Crypto Leaks, claims to expose wrongdoing and market manipulation in cryptocurrency. The Ava Labs report is the third; previous reports allege manipulation of ICP, the Internet Computer blockchain’s governance token, and accuse crypto research company Arkham Intelligence and the New York Times of conspiring to harm Internet Computer’s image.
Where does the Truth Lie?
According to Roche and other observers, Crypto Leaks is likely backed by Dfinity, the corporation behind Internet Computer. The website does not divulge the identity of its sponsors or supporters, and Crypto Leaks did not reply promptly to a comment request Monday.
“These recordings were shot without authorization during private meetings with Christen Ager-Hanssen, who I now know works for Dominic Williams, the designer of ICP Token and the defendant in a high-profile securities fraud case my company initiated against him,” Roche stated in his statement.
Nonetheless, the recordings, which were shot covertly during meetings at an office and a restaurant, have raised eyebrows in the business.
‘Litigation Can Be A Tool,’
In them, Roche boasts of receiving 1% of AVAX, Avalanche’s native currency, in return for legal services and residing in Miami with Ava Labs COO Kevin Sekniqi. (According to Sirer, the claim that Roche owns 1% of AVAX is a “blatant fraud.”)
“I know where the market is headed because I sue half the firms in this field,” he tells an offscreen interlocutor in one of the recordings. “I’ve been inside every single cryptocurrency startup.”
In another video, he claims that he makes sure US regulators “have other magnets to go after” since litigation “can be a tool for competition.” When asked if Ava Labs had ever sued a rival, he said, “No, they have me to do that on behalf of the class so that I may sue Solana.”
Card counting
Sirer stated that Roche “has only represented Ava Labs in a defense role in a few run-of-the-mill business contract issues and myself in a libel lawsuit.” “His firm is one of more than a dozen law firms we work with.”
Sirer also stated that Ava Labs had nothing to do with the cases filed by Roche and that after learning about the Solana case in the press, he sought to persuade him to abandon it.
“Let me be clear: we do not partake in or endorse any of the unethical practices indicated in the paper or video clips,” Sirer stated. “We believe in what we’re doing and don’t require secret pacts or backroom intrigue.”
Now all of this may sound good on paper, and despite the evidence, it seems like it’s his words for theirs, but the question remains, is this the beginning of legal wars in the Blockchain Industry?
