The fallout from the leaked videos of Kyle Roche has continued after two law firms filed a document with the court asking for their law firm Roche Freedman to be removed as interim co-head of the Tether and Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Litigation.
Roche Freedman acts as a plaintiff in the class action lawsuit initiated in 2019claiming that Tether and Bitfinex manipulated the cryptocurrency market by issuing unbacked Tether (USDT).
Kirby McInerney LLP (Kirby) and Radice Law Firm, PC (Radice)who also represent three plaintiffs in the case, filed Roche Freeman’s withdrawal request on Monday.
In the document, the firms argue that they should be replaced as lead counsel on the grounds that Roche Freedman would distract the court from the investors’ claims and “prejudice the rights of the putative class”:
“To avoid a sideshow about the adequacy of attorneys or the motives and use of litigation and discovery, a new leadership structure is necessary.”
The controversy started after a CryptoLeaks exposurewhich received wide publicity for its allegations that the videos showed that Kyle Roche and Ava Labs had a secret agreement to use the lawsuits to harm their competitors.
According to court records released on August 31, Kyle Roche has retired as counsel in several cryptocurrency class action lawsuits, including the Tether and Bitfinex Cryptocurrency Assets Litigation.
Roche Freedmann submitted its response on Tuesday, qualifying the measure of his dismissal as an “extraordinary resource” based on the “recordings of a single attorney who has since sworn those statements were false or misrepresented“:
“The firm also took appropriate steps to avoid any appearance of impropriety.”
Roche Freedman says that “he was removed from this case” and that “he will not receive any part of the proceeds of this litigation”.
He argued that should be the end of the matter because “the five named plaintiffs who actually hired the Firm and stand to lose the most if they are deprived of their attorney of choice“.
One of the defendants in the case, Tether has already requested that Roche’s law firm be kicked out entirely and that certify that you have returned or destroyed all documents issued by the defendant and have not shared them with any third party.
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