- SEC claims jurisdiction over Tron’s Justin Sun due to his extensive business-related travel in the U.S.
- Amended lawsuit alleges Sun’s firms engaged in selling unregistered securities and manipulative trading.
- Sun argues that the activities were mostly conducted overseas and outside U.S. jurisdiction.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has updated its legal action against Justin Sun, the entrepreneur behind the Tron cryptocurrency platform, by emphasizing his frequent travels to the United States. These visits, the SEC contends, allow them to legitimately bring charges within U.S. jurisdiction.
Legal Claims and Business Travels
According to documents filed with a federal court in Manhattan on April 17, the SEC outlines that Sun spent over 380 days in the U.S. from 2017 to 2019, visiting cities like New York, Boston, and San Francisco for business purposes. The regulator alleges that during these visits, Sun was representing his organizations—Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry—considered by the SEC as closely tied to him, effectively acting as his “alter ego.”
Allegations and Defenses
The amended complaint by the SEC also revisits claims that Sun and his associated firms sold TRX and BTT tokens, which the SEC classifies as unregistered securities, and engaged in deceptive trading practices to manipulate market prices. Furthermore, it highlights that these promotional activities for TRX and BTT tokens were directed toward U.S. investors, with some transactions purportedly occurring on a Seattle-based cryptocurrency exchange.
In response, Justin Sun, who now holds citizenship in Grenada, filed a motion in late March to dismiss the case. He argues that the SEC’s application of U.S. securities laws is misplaced, given that the transactions in question primarily took place outside the United States and specifically avoided involving U.S. residents. Sun maintains that both TRX and BTT tokens were sold internationally and steps were deliberately taken to prevent their entry into the U.S. market.
This legal challenge is part of ongoing tensions between the SEC and various entities in the cryptocurrency industry, reflecting the broader scrutiny of digital currencies and the regulatory efforts to establish clearer oversight.
