Crypto leaks video leads to bond to seek removal of Roche firm (1)

Kyle Roche’s law firm should be disbarred from a class-action lawsuit against crypto exchange Bitfinex and affiliate Tether because recording the lawyer raises questions about his motivations, the company’s lawyers said.

“Roche’s statements raise serious concerns,” Debevoise & Plimpton partner Elliot Greenfield wrote in a filing Wednesday in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Bitfinex and Tether.

Roche, founder of Roche Freedman, filed motions Wednesday to withdraw as counsel in separate actions targeting Bitfinex/Tether and Tron, an issuer of digital tokens.

He made the move after denying allegations that he had teamed up with client Ava Labs to target competitors through litigation. He posted his denial on August 29 on the platform Medium after a website called Crypto Leaks posted videos of Roche discussing his work with Ava Labs, a blockchain developer.

Roche wrote in his motion that he is “no longer involved” in the firm’s class action practice.

Such a statement is “extraordinary,” given that class action lawsuits make up the vast majority of Roche Freedman’s workload, Greenfield wrote.

The motion is “inconsistent with Mr. Roche’s suggestion that his videotaped statements were taken out of context,” Greenfield said. “It confirms the serious concerns raised by these statements. It actually increases those concerns.”

The court should require Roche Freedman to certify that it has destroyed all information produced by the defendants and that it has not shared any documents with Ava Labs or any other third party, Greenfield said.

Roche and his firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment through a spokesperson Thursday.

Class action

Roche is one of several lawyers and firms, including Selendy Gay Elsberg and Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky, representing plaintiffs in the Bitfinex lawsuit.

The three firms were named lead counsel in 2020 in a case alleging that Bitfinex and Tether were part of a scheme to manipulate the cryptocurrency market and defraud investors. Some of the requirements survived a motion to dismiss in 2021.

Other Roche Freedman attorneys involved include Daniel Martin Stone, Devin Freedman, Edward John Norman and Joseph Michael Delich, according to court records.

The Bitfinex/Tether case is one of several class action lawsuits Roche’s firm has worked on targeting crypto exchanges and digital token issuers.

The firm helped represent plaintiffs in a case that resulted in a jury last December ordering self-proclaimed bitcoin inventor Craig Wright to pay $100 million in damages for defrauding a late friend over crypto intellectual property. Bloomberg News reports.

Boies Schiller Alums

Roche Freedman was launched about three years ago with a dozen alumni from the elite litigation shop Boies Schiller.

The firm, which has focused on areas including crypto and cannabis litigation, now has 24 lawyers based in New York, Miami and Boston, according to its website.

Roche said in his Medium post that his firm has advised Ava Labs since 2019 and that the representation consists of “defense cases typical of any large company.”

Ava Labs CEO Emin Gun Sirer, in a tweet, called claims that he and Roche teamed up to target competitors “conspiracy theory nonsense.”

Sirer said in a statement on August 29 that the leaked videos showed Roche making false statements about their relationship while trying to “impress a potential business partner”.