SEC Drops Securities Fraud Case Against BitClout Founder Nader Al-Naji
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dismissed its securities fraud lawsuit against Nader Al-Naji, the founder of the social platform BitClout. The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, was dropped after a review by the SEC’s crypto task force. The agency stated the dismissal was based on the specific facts of the case.
The SEC had accused Al-Naji of raising over $257 million through the unregistered sale of BitClout’s native token, BTCLT, in 2021, and alleged that approximately $7 million was used for personal expenses. Simultaneously, the U.S. Department of Justice closed a separate criminal investigation into wire fraud related to the project. As part of the agreement, Al-Naji will not seek legal cost reimbursement from the SEC.
Al-Naji welcomed the dismissal, noting that the government investigated for months before withdrawing the charges. He defended BitClout’s decentralization and expressed optimism about the future of blockchain-based social networks. The dismissal follows a recent trend of the SEC dropping high-profile crypto cases, including one against Justin Sun earlier this month. Al-Naji is now free to continue working on projects related to the DeSo network.
TheNewsCrypto03/16 14:58
