Presidential Candidate Brock Pierce Gets Fraud Suit Papers At Own Campaign Rally

Presidential candidate and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce was served court papers in connection with a lawsuit alleging securities fraud over his involvement in the EOS token sale.

James Koutoulas, CEO of Typhon Capital and a member of the lead counsel for a lawsuit against Pierce, confirmed it was related to a securities fraud class action, news outlet Decrypt reported. Koutoulas uploaded a video on Twitter showing a masked man serving the legal papers to Pierce during his campaign rally in New York on Monday.

Koutoulas told Decrypt that Pierce had initially refused to accept service through his counsel. "So we had a process server serve him at a rally for his presidential campaign," he added.

The summons officially notified Pierce of the class action filed on behalf of those who bought or received EOS tokens from June 2017 to the current date. The lawsuit alleges unjust enrichment by the defendants, which include Pierce and other persons behind Block.one, the company behind EOS. These include Block.one co-founders Brendan Blumer and Daniel Larimer.

The EOS token sale raised around $4 billion in Ether but Block.one did not register the sale with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The lawsuit also alleged that the defendants did not alert the investors about an SEC investigation against the company. Block.one settled the SEC complaint with $24 million.

Koutoulas said the next step is for them to file an amended complaint. He told Decrypt that Block.one may try to file a motion for the complaint to be dismissed. "If the case survives that motion, then the class certification process begins in earnest to establish who exactly lost money due to block.one’s misconduct, and exactly how much," he added.

Pierce left Block.one in March 2018. He is running for president in the 2020 US election as an independent candidate. In his announcement press release, Pierce said he is campaigning for a brighter future for Americans after the challenging 2020. "I’ve spent my life creating great things from nothing and I can help others do the same," he added.