The Central District of California dismissed the suit by BitAngels founder Michael Terpin against telecoms giant AT&T seeking damages, пишет CoinDesk.
Terpin contended that in 2018 the company aided scammers in SIM-swapping, causing him to lose cryptocurrency worth $24 million. The investor sought $200 million in damages.
At the September 8 hearing, AT&T’s lawyers argued the claims were without merit, because “the company’s privacy policy does not guarantee full protection against external intrusions.” On that basis, the mobile operator had no incentive to conceal information about the limitations of the security protocol.
The court also found no evidence that AT&T employees knew about two-factor authentication shortcomings but did not take them into account.
The suit seeking $200 million in damages was dismissed because it rested on allegations of fraud and employees’ negligence by AT&T.
Earlier the court rejected AT&T’s motion to dismiss the case, ruling that Terpin showed how hackers could use his phone’s two-factor authentication to access cryptocurrency wallets, while he relied on the mobile operator’s protections.
The investor’s suit against AT&T for breach of contract and unauthorized disclosure of private information by hackers is ongoing. The amount sought is $23.8 million.
In May 2019, Michael Terpin secured $75.8 million in compensation in a suit against Nicholas Truglia, who stole his cryptocurrency through SIM-swapping. Nicholas Truglia was arrested in November 2018 for stealing $1 million in cryptocurrencies, including by SIM-card forgery.
Subscribe to ForkLog’s channel on YouTube.