Roche Freedman Removed From Class Action Against Tether, Bitfinex

U.S. Judge Removes Legal Firm Roche Freedman From Class Action Against Tether, Bitfinex: Report

Law firm Roche Freedman was removed from representing the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against crypto exchange Bitfinex and stablecoin issuer Tether, which accused them of market manipulation, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday.

A New York Judge took the action despite crypto lawyer and founding partner of Roche Freedman, Kyle Roche, filing earlier to step away from his law firm's class action practice.

In August, whistleblower site Crypto Leaks published a series of damning videos, accusing Roche of weaponizing class-action lawsuits to collect sensitive information on various crypto companies. Roche had denied the allegations.

Roche had withdrawn from lawsuits involving Tether, Bitfinex, the Tron Foundation, HDR Global Trading (which operates as BitMEX), Nexo Capital, BAM Trading (which operates as Binance.US), Dfinity, and Solana Labs. Roche also withdrew from a class-action lawsuit against several universities.

Tether and Bitfinex had filed a request to remove Roche's entire law firm from the case. Judge Katherine Polk Failla said that the firm's continued participation in the case could derail litigation, the report said. "The metaphorical baggage they now carry is not in the best interests of the class," Failla said.

Roche Freedman did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019, against Bitfinex and its sister company Tether seeks total damages up to more than $1 trillion.