- Veritaseum accused the exchange of using the patent for blockchain development
- The founder of Veritaseum agreed to pay $9.5m in a settlement with SEC
Veritaseum Capital LLC is suing Coinbase Global on allegations that the latter infringed on a patent that was awarded to Reggie Middleton, the founder of Veritaseum, CoinDesk wrote, citing Reuters.
Plaintiffs ask for at least $350m in damages
Veritaseum has claimed a minimum of $350 million in damages, accusing the crypto exchange of using the patent for blockchain development. They filed the lawsuit on September 23 in Delaware.
Reggie paid $9.5m in SEC settlement
In late 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the founder of Veritaseum reached a settlement, where the defendant agreed to pay around $9.5 million.
The SEC found that Middleton was obliged to pay prejudgment interest and disgorgement of $8.47 million in addition to a $1 million civil penalty.
Veritaseum misled investors
The issue at hand was a controversial ICO involving the VERI token, in which Middleton managed to raise $14.8 million. Allegedly, Middleton raised these funds without a SEC registration and lied to investors, using this false information to make more money.
In all fairness, Coinbase has also had problems with SEC.