Lawyer Kyle Roche previously withdrew as counsel on several crypto
class-action lawsuits, including the Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset
Litigation.
The fallout from the leaked Kyle Roche videos has continued after two law firms submitted a document to the court asking that his law firm Roche Freedman be removed as interim co-lead from the Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation.
Roche
Freedman are acting for plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit
initiated in 2019 alleging Tether and Bitfinex manipulated the crypto
market by issuing unbacked USDT.
Kirby McInerney LLP (Kirby) and
Radice Law Firm, P.C. (Radice), who are also representing three
plaintiffs in the case, submitted the request that Roche Freeman be
removed to the court on Sept.5.
In the document, the firms argue
they should be substituted as lead counsel on the basis Roche Freedman
would distract the court from the investors' claims and "prejudice the
rights of the putative class."
"To avoid a sideshow about
the adequacy of counsel or the motives and use of litigation and
discovery, a new leadership structure is necessary."
The
controversy began after a CryptoLeaks exposé, which received wide
publicity for its allegations that the videos showed Kyle Roche and Ava
Labs had a secret agreement to use lawsuits to harm its competitors.
According to court records released on Aug. 31, Kyle Roche withdrew as counsel on several crypto class-action lawsuits, including the Tether and Bitfinex Crypto Asset Litigation.
Roche Freedman submitted its response
on Sept.6, calling the move to have it ousted is an "extraordinary
remedy" based on the "recordings of a single lawyer who has since sworn
those statements were false or misinterpreted."
"The Firm also took appropriate steps to avoid any appearance of impropriety."
Roche
Freedman says it "screened him from this case", and he will "not
receive any portion of the proceeds from this litigation."
It
argued that should be the end of the matter because "the five named
plaintiffs who actually retained the Firm and stand to lose the most if
deprived of their counsel of choice."
Related: Tether requests Roche Freedman to be booted from class action
One
of the defendants in the case, Tether, has already requested that
Roche's law firm be removed entirely and to certify that it has returned
or destroyed all defendant-issued documents and had not shared them
with any third-party.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/court-hears-roche-freedman-could-create-a-sideshow-in-the-tether-class-action
