Ava Labs used lawsuits to fight competitors and deceive regulators, Cryptoleaks investigation found out. The crypto community is buzzing with outrage.
Cryptoleaks published a series of videos with compromising evidence on Ava Labs, a team standing behind Avalanche (AVAX). The videos show how lawyer Kyle Roche from Roche Freedman, which partnered with Ava Labs in exchange for AVAX tokens admits that they used multiple lawsuits to put pressure on competitors and deceive regulators, forcing them to investigate other crypto projects.
Ava Labs develops and promotes the Avalanche blockchain. It is led by CEO and founder, Emin Gün Sirer, and claims to employ more than 150 people. Roche Freedman is a law firm that currently is running at least 25 class actions, including against Binance, Solana Labs (Solana) and the Dfinity Foundation (an Internet Computer contributor).
“We can reveal that the pact directs Roche Freedman and their leader Kyle Roche, to: 1) use the American legal system - gangster style - to attack and harm crypto organizations and projects that might compete with Ava Labs or Avalanche in some way, 2) sue crypto industry actors generally with the aim of creating magnets for regulators such as the SEC and CFTC that distract them from the highly commercial nature of Ava Labs and the Avalanche blockchain, and 3) secretly pursue Emin Gün Sirer's personal vendettas against individuals,” Cryptoleaks investigation reads.
One video shows Roche saying that they “used [litigation services] as a strategic instrument to support Ava Labs.”
CEO Binance Changpeng Zhao commented on the issue tweeting that such a practice is “wild”.
“This is wild. Not sure if this is true, but assuming the videos are not deep fake... And of course, Binance was a target. We are not even a competitor.”
But later Changpeng deleted this tweet.
“I sue half the companies in this space, I know where this market is going, I believe [I am] one of the top 10 [crypto experts] in this world… I’ve seen the insides of every single crypto company.”
CEO Ava Labs Emin Gün Sirer denies all accusations, calling them “ridiculous conspiracy theory”.
“We would never engage in the unlawful, unethical and just plain wrong behavior claimed in these self-serving videos and inflammatory article,” he tweeted.
Currently, the market capitalization of Avalanche fluctuates around $16.5 billion.