SEC summoned to court the founder of TRON Foundation Ltd., Justin Sun, as well as rapper Soulja Boy and YouTube star Austin Mahone after charges were filed last month alleging an unregistered offering of securities in the form of TRON (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) tokens.
All three had previously opposed the regulator’s complaint. If they fail to appear in court within 21 days, a default judgment for damages will be entered against them.
Other celebrities mentioned in the case, including actress Lindsay Lohan, YouTube personality Jake Paul, porn star Kendra Lust, and rappers Akon, Lil Yachty and Ne-Yo settled the claims by paying a $400,000 penalty, without admitting or denying the Commission’s findings.
According to Sun’s Twitter bio, he is in Switzerland. However, activity on his social media indicates that the entrepreneur was recently in Hong Kong.
Arrived HK ?? pic.twitter.com/8PgKsCrDeQ
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) April 11, 2023
In March, the SEC accused Sun and three of his companies of an unregistered offering of securities in the form of TRX and BTT tokens.
The regulator also contends that the entrepreneur and the TRON Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry (formerly BitTorrent), wholly owned by him, manipulated the secondary TRX market through ‘wash trading’ and allegedly earned about $31 million.
The Commission seeks to bar Sun and his companies from ever offering securities, including digital assets, disgorgement of proceeds and interest, and civil penalties.
Justin Sun has described the charges as unfounded.