Plaintiffs Move to Combine Their Market-Manipulation Lawsuits Against Bitfinex and Tether

Plaintiffs in three separate putative class action lawsuits against Bitfinex and Tether have moved to consolidate their cases, according to a Thursday court filing.

Court filings by David Leibowitz et al, Eric Young et al, and Bryan Faubus et al, accuse the sister companies of manipulating the crypto markets. Their cases share common threads, filings show, including allegations that Bitfinex and Tether manipulated the price of bitcoin and bitcoin futures in violation of federal law.

All three cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Defendants did not object to the plaintiffs' proposed consolidation, with Tether writing in a press statement Friday it “looks forward” to debunking the “fanciful accusations.” 

“Tether will continue to defend the digital token ecosystem and the many contributions of the cryptocurrency community, and will not now or in the future pay any amount to settle plaintiffs' claims,” the statement said.

The consolidation sheds some light on Young’s decision last week to withdraw and refile in the Southern District of New York. At first unexplained, it now appears that the plaintiffs abandoned the original Western District of Washington jurisdiction so they could join the other two in New York.

Tether anticipated a fourth class action suit, filed by Joseph Ebanks on Thursday, may also join in.

Read the full filing below:

UPDATE (JAN. 18, 18:50 UTC): This article has been updated to clarify that a judge must still approve the consolidation.