US District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon of the Southern District of New York granted the defendants’ dismissal motions and denied plaintiffs Omar Hurlock and Anuj Mehta permission to file a second amended complaint. Her September 29 order directed the clerk to close the case, ending the litigation at district-court level.
The decision did not determine whether the disputed token launches actually involved market manipulation or fraud. Instead, the 81-page ruling found critical deficiencies in the plaintiffs’ legal pleadings, including failures involving Meteora’s capacity to be sued, the racketeering allegations, fraud claims against Chow and the court’s personal jurisdiction over the Kelsier defendants.
Hurlock and Mehta, purchasers of memecoins, had accused Kelsier Labs, doing business as Kelsier Ventures, Hayden Davis, Gideon Davis, Charles Thomas Davis, Meteora and Chow of fraud, conspiracy, violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, breaches of New York consumer-protection law and unjust enrichment.
Rochon ruled that the plaintiffs had not adequately established that Meteora qualified as an unincorporated association or partnership capable of being sued as alleged. Meteora’s terms describe it as a distributed set of smart contracts deployed on the Solana blockchain, while the plaintiffs sought to characterise it as an association comprising individuals and entities involved in its operation.
The judge also rejected the substantive RICO claims against the Kelsier defendants. The alleged conduct connecting M3M3 and LIBRA covered roughly six months, and the court found the complaint did not plausibly establish the continuity required to show a pattern of racketeering activity. The related RICO conspiracy claim consequently failed.
Other claims against the Kelsier defendants were dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ proposed conspiracy-based route to establishing jurisdiction in New York, preventing the remaining state-law claims against those defendants from proceeding there.
Claims against Chow were dismissed for failure to state a legally sufficient claim. The court found allegations that he provided technical assistance, knew Kelsier would use Meteora for the LIBRA launch and benefited from protocol transaction fees did not adequately plead fraudulent intent or materially misleading conduct.
The plaintiffs had sought another opportunity to amend their case, including allegations concerning additional token launches. Rochon refused permission, concluding the proposed amendments would not cure the legal deficiencies and would therefore be futile. That determination resulted in dismissal of the amended complaint with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cannot refile the same complaint in the district court.
The case, Hurlock v. Kelsier Labs, arose from purchases of M3M3 and LIBRA, two Solana-based tokens whose launches generated allegations that insiders had advantages unavailable to retail buyers. Those allegations remained allegations; the dismissal was based on pleading and jurisdictional grounds rather than a trial or factual finding that resolved the disputed conduct.
LIBRA drew international attention after Argentina’s President Javier Milei posted about the project on X on February 14, 2025, linking to its website and token contract. Trading surged before the price collapsed. Milei later deleted the post and said he had not known the project’s details.
The US litigation had also produced an earlier dispute over assets linked to the LIBRA launch. About $57 million in USDC was frozen in 2025 after litigation-related action involving wallets at issue, before the freeze was later lifted after arrangements concerning movement of the disputed funds.
Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
Follow Arabian Post
Select Arabian Post as your preferred source on Google and MSN News for trusted business news and Arab politics and updates.
