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A new twist has emerged in the high-stakes courtroom drama centered around Jump Trading, the algorithmic trading firm embroiled in a class-action lawsuit for alleged market manipulation. The company now hopes to expedite proceedings by transferring the case from Illinois to a Northern district court in California.
On May 9, a lawsuit was filed against Jump Trading by Taewoo Kim, who is personally pursuing the case on behalf of others affected by the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem. Kim is receiving legal support from Selendy Gay and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.
The lawsuit accuses Jump Trading and its top executive, Kanav Kariya, of engineering a price manipulation racket involving the notorious TerraUSD stablecoin. It is alleged that this transgression resulted in a substantial profit of $1.3 billion for the firm. The trading firm and Kariya are also charged with violating Commodity Exchange and Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules, as well as with unjust enrichment, a common law offense.
In an interesting turn of events on June 9, Jump Trading argued that the selection of the lawsuit's location was part of a strategy known as "forum shopping," where a venue is chosen that is expected to be more favorable to the plaintiff's case. The company points out that the primary plaintiff is a resident of New Jersey, represented by law firms from New York and California.
Jump Trading further indicates that there is an ongoing, similar lawsuit in California that has been active for over a year. The firm suggests that these two cases could be consolidated or coordinated for greater efficiency.
Last May, the TerraUSD/LUNA project met a disastrous end, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars from the market. Project founder Do Kwon was arrested in March in Montenegro on charges of using false travel documents. The stakes are high for Kwon, as he may be facing prison sentences in both the U.S. and South Korea.
