Per a May 18 complaint, more investors are looking to compensate funds invested in the record-breaking initial money offering for EOS — which netted a total of $4 billion in cryptocurrency. Lawyers for the plaintiffs are calling over $200 one thousand thousand of that coin illegally raised.

Conflict with U.South. securities law and investors

The complaint alleges that EOS was an unregistered security offering by block.i. Block.1 is the development firm that spearheaded the ICO for EOS, which many saw as a form of investment in the visitor.

Language in the buy agreements in EOS's pre-sale told investors in the United States not to participate in the fundraising circular. This was an effort to avoid conflict with the Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC). Block.one did non register the offering in the U.S., neither every bit a security nor nether exemptions from securities registration, so they leaned on their measures to skip out on U.S. investors entirely equally their means of compliance with the U.S. regulator.

All the same, some U.S. investors indeed participated in the ICO, and block.one concluded up encountering the SEC anyhow. In September, block.i settled with the committee for $24 one thousand thousand.

New allegations of actively courting investors

The new complaint alleges that the firm — which has offices in Hong Kong and Blacksburg, Virginia — knowingly and deliberately sought U.S. investors:

"From 2022 through the present, to drive demand for EOS Securities, Defendants have aggressively courted investors throughout the U.s.. Block.one outset announced itself at a May 2022 briefing in New York City, and punctuated its arrival with expensive ad space on a Times Foursquare billboard."

On the subject of how much investment actually came from the U.Southward., James Koutoulas, i of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, told Cointelegraph that they were "estimating bare minimum 200M in U.s. losses."

The complaint further dismisses cake.one'south claims to be working towards decentralization as falsehoods.

In an email to Cointelegraph, a representative from block.1 expressed confidence in the pending case:

"Cake.one is aware that career plaintiffs' lawyers have filed a lawsuit in the US. The complaint is filled with false claims, and demonstrates a profound lack of agreement of blockchain engineering science and decentralized networks. The company looks forward to addressing these matters and fully expects to prevail."

Yet, this case is not the stop of the story. Early on in April, constabulary house Roche Cyrulnik Freedman filed a rash of class-activeness suits against a number of crypto firms including block.one, based on like allegations. The two cases will likely have to compete to be appointed lead counsel — effectively, leadership over the class.