New York State Supreme Court upholds local prosecution over Bitfinex

The New York State Attorney General's Office (NYAG) has sufficient authority to continue investigating the activities of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and its affiliate Tether. This decision was made by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, reports CoinDesk .

Judge Joel Cohen’s decision dated August 19 said the state prosecutor could continue to investigate alleged Bitfinex fraud and mislead exchange customers.

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In April, NYAG accused Bitfinex of concealing a loss of $ 800 million and covering it with Tether Limited reserves.

The prosecutor's office believes that the exchange served state residents and violated the Martin Law, but representatives of the site denied the charges. Also, representatives of Bitfinex argued that the state prosecutor's office has no jurisdiction in this matter, since all clients of the exchange are foreign residents, as stated in the user policy.

However, the judge did not take these arguments into account.

“The court objects to the petition that the decision on jurisdiction in this case, which could affect the rights of the defendants, may be premature. Having regard to the evidence and applicable laws, the court considers it admissible to consider this case. Accordingly, the defendants' request is rejected, and the temporary ban on the investigation is canceled, ” Joel Cohen said in a statement.

Earlier, Bitfinex and Tether complained that it took about $ 500,000 to collect the documents requested by NYAG.

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