NBA star Jimmy Butler and crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong, known as “BitBoy,” have agreed to pay a combined $340,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming they promoted Binance, which is alleged to have sold unregistered securities.
Lawyers for the class group asked a Miami federal judge on Aug. 19 to give preliminary approval to the deal, which would resolve an ongoing lawsuit that has been ongoing since March 2023.
Butler’s settlement agreement seen by Cointelegraph shows he would pay $300,000 and adds he “adamantly denies any and all wrongdoing.” He believes he would “be absolved of all liability” if the case was litigated to conclusion.
Armstrong would pay $40,000 and similarly denies “any wrongdoing or liability,” believing he has “valid defenses” to the claims.
Both agreed to settle to avoid sinking expenses and time into the matter.
A highlighted excerpt states that class members can object to the agreement before the judge approves. Source: CourtListener
The lawsuit also names crypto exchange Binance, its jailed former CEO Changpeng Zhao, and the firm’s American arm BAM Trading as defendants. Stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Company was named as a defendant in a June 2023 amended complaint.
Cointelegraph reached out to Binance, Binance.US and their respective counsel, along with lawyers for Zhao, on the status of the lawsuit against them.
The Moskowitz Law Firm’s managing partner, Adam Moskowitz, who is leading the suit, told Cointelegraph in an email that its year-long investigation “revealed that Binance is also selling unregistered securities and thus needs to be held accountable.”
“Each and every promoter of these unregistered securities, including Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, will be held responsible,” he added.
The lawsuit alleged that Butler and Armstrong were paid promoters of Binance, claiming the exchange sold cryptocurrencies that are unregistered securities.
Butler and Armstrong had filed to dismiss the suit alongside Zhao and Binance.
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Armstrong’s lawyer, Darren Heitner, said, “We won’t have any comment other than that a resolution was found” in response to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Butler’s counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The settlement class could include the potential millions of Binance.US and Binance.com users who used its BNB Vault, Simple Earn or any staking product, along with those who purchased, held or sold BNB (BNB), its defunct stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Filecoin (FIL), Cosmos (ATOM), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Algorand (ALGO), Axie Infinity (AXS), or COTI (COTI).
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