Plaintiffs in an ongoing class action lawsuit against Tether and Bitfinex have filed a new, slimmed-down complaint accusing the crypto companies of manipulating the crypto markets and violating antitrust laws.
这一起持续进行中的集体诉讼中，原告指控加密货币公司Tether和Bitfinex操纵加密货币市场，违反反垄断法。
The second amended complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on Monday, accuses Tether and its sister crypto exchange Bitfinex of operating a “sophisticated scheme to artificially inflate the price of cryptocurrencies” by pushing Tether’s dollar-backed stablecoin, USDT, into the cryptomarket without it being fully backed by U.S. dollars, therefore “creating the illusion of increased demand” for cryptocurrencies, “facilitating trading of [cryptocurrencies] on credit and loaned funds” and ultimately driving up crypto prices.
周一在纽约南区地方法院提交的第二份修改诉状指控Tether及其姊妹加密交易所Bitfinex运营一个“复杂的方案，通过将Tether的美元支持稳定币USDT推向加密货币市场，而该稳定币并未完全由美元支持，从而“制造加密货币需求增加的幻觉”，“便利以信用和借贷资金交易[加密货币]”，最终推高加密货币价格。
The complaint is the third to be filed in the same case, overseen by U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla. The first complaint was filed in 2019 and an amended complaint followed in 2020.
这是同一案件提交的第三份诉状，由美国地区法官凯瑟琳·波尔克·费拉负责。首次诉状于2019年提交，随后在2020年提交了修正诉状。
The case has had several hiccups, including the removal of the original plaintiffs’ counsel, crypto law firm Roche Freedman (now called Freedman Norman Friedland), after video recordings of attorney Kyle Roche appearing to admit to filing frivolous investor lawsuits to help client, surfaced in 2022.
这起案件曾多次出现波折，包括在2022年出现录像记录律师凯尔·罗切(Kyle Roche)似乎承认提起无谓的投资者诉讼以帮助客户后，原告的律师事务所罗切·弗里德曼 (现更名为弗里德曼·诺曼·弗里德兰)被撤换出案件。
In the newest iteration of the complaint, attorneys for the plaintiffs levied three causes of action against the defendants – violating the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) via market manipulation, monopolization, and agreement in restraint of trade – the latter two causes of action both alleged violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act. It’s a slimmed down version of the previous complaints: the original complaint contained eight causes of action, and the amended complaint contained 12.
在最新版本的诉状中，原告的律师对被告提出了三项诉讼原因——通过市场操纵违反商品交易法（CEA），垄断和限制贸易协议——后两项诉讼均声称违反了谢尔曼反垄断法。这是对之前诉状的精简版本：原始诉状包含了八项诉讼原因，而修正诉状包含了12项。
The suit contained chat and deposition logs from the companies’ operators, allegedly admitting to manipulative actions.
诉讼中包含了公司运营者的聊天记录和证言记录，据称承认了操纵行为。
“[Tether Chief Financial Officer Giancarlo] Devasini also acknowledged at his deposition that issuing a substantial credit line ‘that is not backed by anything of an enormous amount of money’ would cause customers to ‘use this fake money to buy an enormous amount of Bitcoin and, therefore, the price will increase,'” the suit said.
诉讼称：“[Tether首席财务官吉安卡洛] 德瓦西尼在证词中也承认，发放一笔‘没有得到大量资金支持’的巨额信贷将导致客户‘使用这种虚假的货币购买大量比特币，因此，价格将会上涨’。”
A spokesperson for Tether said the claims in the second amended complaint, “as with the prior complaint” are “wholly without merit.”
Tether的一位发言人表示，第二份修改诉状中的指控“和之前诉状一样”“完全没有根据”。
Last year, lawyers for Tether and Bitfinex filed a memorandum of opposition against the plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint for a second time, calling it “in reality a motion for leave to start over” after the discovery process had concluded, but in June, Failla ultimately granted the plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file the second amended complaint.
去年，Tether和Bitfinex的律师就原告第二次修正诉状的动议提交了反对意见书，称其“实际上是一项在发现程序结束后重新开始的动议”，但在6月，法拉最终批准了原告提交第二份修改诉状的动议。
The lead plaintiffs in this case are U.S.-based crypto traders Matthew Script, Benjamin Leibowitz, Jason Leibowitz, and Pinchas Goldshtein, though several other civil class action suits and their plaintiffs have also joined the case.
该案的主要原告是美国的加密货币交易者马修·斯克里普特(Matthew Script)、本杰明·莱博维茨(Benjamin Leibowitz)、贾森·莱博维茨(Jason Leibowitz)和平查斯·戈尔德施泰因(Pinchas Goldshtein)，尽管还有其他几起公民集体诉讼和原告也加入了这起案件。
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not respond to Crypto’s request for comment.
原告的律师没有回复Crypto的置评请求。