One must admit, the world of crypto is increasingly beginning to resemble a farcical operetta, albeit with less champagne and more subpoenas. 🎭 Enter John Deaton, legal eagle of XRP fame, who has now lobbed a class action lawsuit with all the enthusiasm of an opening night performer. The lucky recipient of said legal fanfare? William Sarris, the erstwhile CEO of Linqto, a gentleman apparently no stranger to thriving in the heady fog of regulatory ambiguity. According to the drama filed on July 9—an excellent date for legal melodrama—Deaton accuses Sarris of flogging unlicensed shares with all the subtlety of a tap-dancing grifter.
Lawyer Deaton vs. Linqto: Or, Much Ado About Crypto
In this production, Sarris (or Darris, as he’s mistakenly cast elsewhere—an honest typo, or a plot twist?) is said to have misled eager investors, dangling false information and prices more inflated than an overfilled soufflé. These shenanigans allegedly spread to private companies of repute—or at least reputation—such as Ripple, Uphold, and Kraken. Terrett (our somewhat reliable narrator) took to X (for those formerly acquainted with Twitter):
“The suit alleges Sarris orchestrated a multi-year scheme using undisclosed markups (as high as 60%—heavens!), misleading exemptions, and unlicensed sales tactics to sell shares in private companies like @Ripple, @UpholdInc, and @krakenfx via SPVs on Linqto’s platform.”
All the Juiciest Bits from the Deaton Suit 🍸
Let’s examine the highlights—because every good lawsuit deserves a top billing:
- Investors were allegedly treated to shares with a sumptuous 60% markup. Value for money? Only if you’re counting in hubris. 💸
- Linqto’s sales techniques apparently tiptoed past transparency with the grace of a cat burglar. Draped in legal exemptions, of course.
- Investor protection laws seem to have taken the night off, with thousands allegedly misled. Curtain call for disclosure, anyone?
- Deaton seeks to restore lost funds for the thousands who didn’t get the memo, and hopes to avoid settlements as limp as day-old cucumber sandwiches.
- Meanwhile, despite serenades from the SEC and FINRA—love letters sent in 2023 and 2024—Linqto performed as a non-registered broker-dealer and, for good measure, tried its hand at unregistered investing. Bravo? Not quite.
Will Linqto Take a Final Bow? 🎬
Linqto’s bankruptcy attorney, Samuel A. Schwartz, assures us there’s a grand plan (isn’t there always?) to raise money during their bankruptcy masquerade, supposedly to repay the creditors. The company is expected to attempt a heart-to-heart with regulators before offering creditors a cheque—possibly post-dated—to vote on.
Following a spectacular suspension in March, Linqto’s cash box is more echo than currency. The latest plot twist involves $60 million in fresh loans from Sandton Capital Partners to fund bankruptcy. That’s right, they’re borrowing money… to figure out how to distribute the money they never had to begin with.🎩
As Mr. Schwartz, ever the optimist, declared: “We think we have significant resources to make distributions to customers.” One can only hope there’s an intermission before the creditors demand their encore.
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2025-07-10 10:20