SEC doubles down on TRON's Justin Sun lawsuit dismissing claims over jurisdiction

• The SEC says it has jurisdiction to bring Justin Sun to court as he traveled extensively to the US.
• Sun asked to dismiss the suit, arguing that the SEC was targeting actions taken outside the US.
• The SEC alleges that TRX and BTT tokens were promoted, offered and sold to US-based consumers and investors.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has amended its lawsuit against TRON founder Justin Sun, after its first filing in March. The financial regulator dismissed claims over jurisdiction and alleged that Sun sold TRX and BTT tokens to consumers and investors in the United States.

Sun faces SEC lawsuit and allegations

TRON founder Justin Sun allegedly spent over 380 days in the US between 2017 and 2019. The SEC used this information to rejig its lawsuit against Sun and claim that his “extensive travel” in the US gives the regulator jurisdiction over him, Tron and his two other businesses. 

SEC had filed a lawsuit against Sun in March 2023, naming the TRON Founder, Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry over the offer and sale of TRX and BTT. The SEC alleges that these tokens are unregistered securities. 

In response to the SEC’s allegations, Tron requested that the lawsuit be dismissed, stating that the regulator has no jurisdiction over digital assets sold to foreign users on global platforms. Tron stated that the sale of BTT and TRX tokens was entirely outside of the United States. 

The US financial regulator issued an electronic subpoena to Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, and related entities in March 2023. 

The revised lawsuit alleges that Sun’s trips to the US were on behalf of the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry and the executive likely promoted, offered and sold BTT and TRX to customers and investors based in the United States. 

TRX price is down less than 1% and BTT price is down nearly 2% on Friday.