In brief
- Jenner created and promoted digital coins bearing her name on two different platforms.
- The court rules that buying a foreign-created token doesn't qualify for U.S. legal protection.
- The lead plaintiff failed to show that their token purchases worth over $40,000 were done in the U.S.
A California federal judge has thrown out a class action lawsuit against Caitlyn Jenner and her business partner, Sophia Hutchins, saying the British investor who sued can't use American courts to recover his losses.
The lawsuit "alleges no facts regarding where or how Jenner provided this liquidity," U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr. wrote.
The judge said that without showing how the token purchases were done in the U.S., the court could not "reasonably infer" that Jenner "incurred irrevocable liability" under U.S. securities laws.
A copy of the order granting the motion to dismiss, filed last Thursday, was obtained and reviewed by Decrypt from Law360.
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Lead plaintiff Lee Greenfield alleges to have lost over $40,000 by selling Jenner's meme coin at a loss after holding it between May and July 2024. He is identified by Judge Blumenfeld Jr. as "the investor with the largest losses.”
The lawsuit presented nine legal arguments against Jenner and Hutchins: seven targeting Jenner directly, including federal securities violations, California state securities laws, fraud, and contract disputes, and two against Hutchins (for controlling-person liability and aiding fraud).
Greenfield also alleged Jenner and her business partner, Sophia Hutchins, misled investors by launching $JENNER on one platform (Solana), then creating identical coins on Ethereum two days later, causing the first to lose value.
In between creating the Solana and Ethereum tokens, Greenfield alleges Jenner of promoting another token "named after her and Hutchins's dogs ($BBARK)," despite Jenner allegedly assuring followers that she was "fully focused " on the tokens in her name.
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Greenfield's lawsuit also alleged Jenner profited from those moves by collecting a 3% fee on all transactions from the meme coin's Ethereum version.
But Greenfield's chief complaint "provides scant details about Greenfield's purchases," the judge said, adding that Greenfield only alleged he "accumulated" the tokens, paying with crypto from the Ethereum and Solana blockchains (ETH and SOL).
While dismissing the current lawsuit, the judge is giving Greenfield until May 23 to file a new complaint with better evidence that his purchases qualify for U.S. legal protection. Jenner and Hutchison were given until June 6 to respond to any amended filing.
Decrypt reached out to Jenner through a press inquiry form on their website. Decrypt also made efforts to establish contact with Greenfield, who maintains no public e-mail.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
