CoinEx has been sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who alleges the firm falsely represented itself as an exchange by failing to register as a securities and commodities broker-dealer in the state.
A 38-page petition filed by James in the New York Supreme Court on Feb. 22 alleged that CoinEx engaged in repeated and persistent fraudulent practices” and violated the state’s Martin Act ,which is considered one of the most strict anti-fraud and securities regulation laws in the United States.
James said that CoinEx is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, “as is required under New York law” to sell the tokens.
The Attorney General’s Office created a CoinEx account with a New York-based computer and internet address and alleged it was able to trade on the platform.
The petition also states that CoinEx failed to comply with a Dec. 22 subpoena sent by the Attorney General’s Office in order to provide testimony concerning the virtual asset trading activities of its platform. In the petition, James is seeking a court order to stop CoinEx from marketing itself as an exchange and prevent it from operating in the state by ordering it to geoblock internet addresses and GPS location data originating from New York.
