Will price manipulation lawsuit expose Tether’s reserves?
In the ongoing class action lawsuit against Bitfinex and Tether for alleged cryptocurrency price manipulation, the court has ordered that both companies produce financial documents.
Tether pointed out in its response that the ruling “merely concerned the scope of documents to be produced” and that it “looks forward to dispensing with plaintiffs’ baseless lawsuit in due course.”
The scope that Tether hoped for included a less significant set of documents, with a much narrower disclosure of its crypto transactions and trades. It appears the company will instead need to produce nearly complete records of its cryptocurrency activities. Tether will also need to disclose a broader range of financial documents.
The exact documents that will need to be disclosed are currently described in a document under seal.
It’s possible that this lawsuit will end up revealing more details about the oft-contested status of Tether reserves. It’s unclear when or if the documents will be broadly available, and it’s likely both Tether and Bitfinex will do their best to protect the information that they’ve previously claimed is their “secret sauce.”
Read more: Binance to forcibly liquidate major stablecoins — but not Tether
The lawsuit has been mired in difficulties, with motions to remove Kyle Roche as attorney, citing the controversy surrounding recently released spycam footage of him. The hearing to decide who will act as attorney for the plaintiffs is scheduled for October 3.
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