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A BitConnect class-action status report shows that a settlement between the parties is unlikely right now, based on the history of the case and where each side stands in the case.
Also in the works is a Fourth Amended Complaint.
After an appeal was turned down by the Eleventh Circuit in February, here’s how the case stands now:
“Plaintiffs plan to file a Fourth Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint because it looks like there isn’t a complaint in this case that is currently being used.
Plaintiffs will include in that pleading the defendants who, according to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision, should not have been taken out of this case as defendants.
In the amended pleading, defendant Glenn Arcaro is one of the people who will be brought back into the lawsuit. Plaintiffs have been told that Defendant Arcaro will try to get all of the claims against him dropped or put on hold.”
In September 2021, Arcaro, who was in charge of BitConnect in the US, pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to BitConnect. A civil fraud case against Arcaro was also settled with the SEC earlier this year. class-action Plaintiffs say that Arcaro’s cases with regulators hurt his defense in this case.
Plaintiffs think that these arguments aren’t valid, don’t help narrow any of the legal or factual questions in this case, and just add more time to these proceedings.
Now that “I didn’t do it” doesn’t seem to be an option, Arcaro explains why he wants to get the case thrown out.
Mr. Arcaro plans to file a motion to dismiss and/or a motion to stay, based on the ongoing criminal proceedings and the fact that Mr. Arcaro has given the federal government all of the money he got through the BitConnect program, plus interest.
Through criminal and civil regulatory proceedings, more than $56 million has been taken from Arcaro. In particular, while this case was being appealed, Mr. Arcaro gave up about $57 million in cryptocurrency, which the government then used to pay back investors in BitConnect, including the plaintiffs.
The Private Litigation Securities Reform Act also says that there will be an automatic stay while any motion to dismiss is being decided.
Arcaro seems to want to go to the Supreme Court as well.
Mr. Arcaro could also try to stop this case until his Petition for Writ of Certiorari is heard.
This is the first time I’ve heard that Arcaro is going to the Supreme Court to fight the decision of the Eleventh Circuit. I looked into the case and saw that Arcaro asked for more time to file his writ of certiorari on June 22. On June 28, Justice Thomas said “yes” to Arcaro’s request. He gave him until September 19 to file. Arcaro’s sentencing has been moved to September 16th because of a recent court order in his criminal case.
Mr. Arcaro thinks that resolving the issues raised by the motions to dismiss and stay, as well as his petition for a writ of certiorari, will make this case easier to understand and end, or at least narrow the issues that will have to be tried.
Ryan Maasen, who pushed for BitConnect, is also a defendant in the case. He doesn’t disagree with it, but he also doesn’t seem to have helped write the Joint Status Report.
Ryan Maasen, the defendant, doesn’t have a lawyer, but he has given his contact information and has been copied on all correspondence about this Joint Status Report and Proposed Scheduling Order.
Getting ready for class -action Plaintiffs will file their Fourth Amended Complaint, Arcaro will file a motion to dismiss, Arcaro might try to challenge the Eleventh Circuit’s decision in the Supreme Court (I think this will depend on his sentence), and both sides have asked for a trial date of June 12, 2023, if the case can’t be settled.
I’ll keep looking at the case docket for new information.
