The founding partner and attorney of the law firm Roche Freedman LLP have found himself in the midst of controversy.
Therefore, Poloniex and Bittrex, two of the prominent crypto exchanges in the market, which have class-action lawsuits filed against them want Kyle Roche’s litigation company removed.
Similar to a statement from Tether’s lawyers, the attorneys representing the two crypto exchanges said that the statements issued by Mr. Roche have raised some serious concerns.
The controversy
Crypto boutique litigation company Roche Freedman LLC has been involved in a number of class-action lawsuits.
These lawsuits were filed back in 2020 in which the law firm claimed that these centralized exchanges had manipulated prices in the crypto market with the use of the stablecoin Tether (USDT).
But, Crypto Leaks had recently published a series of videos pertaining to the founder and lawyer of Roche Freedman LLP, Kyle Roche.
In the said videos, the attorney can be heard discussing the relationships that he has with a number of crypto businesses.
Roche defended himself by saying that the videos were illegally obtained and that they comprise unsourced false statements.
He also said that the videos are highly edited and do not have accurate context.
Removal from lawsuit
Even though Roche defended his statements, he did take the step of removing himself from the numerous high-profile crypto lawsuits that have been filed by his company.
But, the crypto companies against which the law firm has filed the lawsuits do not believe this measure is enough.
It started with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s Elliot Greenfield who represents Tether and first requested that Roche Freedman LLP be entirely removed from the class-action lawsuit filed against the stablecoin issuer.
The lawyer said that Kyle Roche’s removal was not enough and the company needed to be removed. Now, other crypto businesses, such as Bittrex and Poloniex are also asking for the same.
They believe that Roche’s integrity and statements could taint the actions that are taken, such as the intention associated with discovery.
The reasons
The lawyers of the crypto exchanges submitted their request to the judge presiding in the South District Court of New York.
They said that the recent statements from the founder of the law firm raised some serious concerns regarding the intentions behind any discovery and how it would be used.
The exchanges said that they appreciated the protective order that had been put in place in regard to this matter and that lawyers are required to comply with them.
However, they added that Mr. Roche had already had access to all the confidential and sensitive material that had been part of the litigation and it could have been misused.
Roche Freedman LLP stated that the allegations against its founders are false and it also added that it expected the defendants to try and leverage it against the whole firm.
The litigation company said that it did not come as a surprise that the defendants were trying to use it to get them removed.