Following the investigation initiated against Bitfinex and Tether last April, yesterday the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office filed a Memorandum of Law, along with 28 documents to be used as evidence before the New York Supreme Court.
The NYAG has presented new evidence to demonstrate that the well-known Bitfinex exchange has allowed New York users to trade cryptocurrencies longer than previously stated.
The Bitfinex case: new documents filed by the NYAG
The documentation filed by the NYAG highlights the interactions between New York citizens and the Bitfinex exchange, as well as with the Tether stablecoin.
“Even a cursory examination of the facts gathered to date in the OAG’ s investigation shows that Respondents have extensive and consistent contacts to New York concerning the matters under investigation.”
The filed documents are accompanied by an array of evidence proving the use of Bitfinex and Tether by New York residents for a longer period than previously stated.
In the documents, the NYAG reported that Bitfinex had allowed New York residents to access the platform until December 18th, 2018.
In addition, Exhibit (S) also showed the correspondence between Bitfinex and Galaxy Digital’s fund manager, billionaire Michael Novogratz. These last emails, in fact, would be dated October 2018.
The NYAG also provided additional evidence to show that Bitfinex had two bank accounts at the Signature Bank and Noble Bank. There would also be a third financial institution based in New York, used for a relevant period of time in order to transfer money to and from customers of the Bitfinex and Tether platforms.
The NYAG also stated that:
“Respondents have repeatedly engaged New York firms to assist them in their business objectives, including to make statements to the markets about the operation of the Bitfinex trading platform and the cash backing of tethers; and as recently as 2019, Respondents opened a trading account with at least one New York-based virtual currency firm.”
In the Memorandum of Law, the NYAG also took into account the recent issuance of the LEO token by Bitfinex. For the NYAG, in fact, there is reason to believe that the issuance of LEO is partly related to the issues under investigation.
The NYAG filed a complaint against Bitfinex and Tether last April 2019, claiming that Bitfinex had covered a hole of over 850 million dollars by borrowing them from Tether’s reserves.
Shortly after the NYAG filed the complaint, Bitfinex conducted an IEO for its LEO token with the goal of raising $1 billion, which was successfully achieved before the public sale.
