After Ava Labs, Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse denied allegations, while Kyle Roche claimed that the stint was a deliberate scheme to intoxicate and exploit him.
Crypto Leaks, which happens to be an online publication exposing corruption and fraud in the crypto ecosystem, made some astonishing claims about Ava Labs forming a secret pact with Kyle Roche, the founding partner of the law firm Roche Freedman. The same report even dragged Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse funded a law firm to target its rivals.
Roche was allegedly working with Boies Schiller Flexner, a NY-based firm that was representing the blockchain company in its lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The report claimed that Roche approached Garlinghouse to invest in a law firm that would sue competitors. While Kyle said that the CEO agreed to his deal, the allegations were vehemently denied by the exec.
Garlinghouse took Twitter to clarify:
“Can’t comment on the validity of the slew of allegations in here, but I can unequivocally say that I have never met or spoken to (much less invested in) Kyle Roche.”
Exposing Ava Labs
Last week, Crypto Leaks claimed in a report that the core developer of the Avalanche blockchain – Ava Labs – came into a “secret” agreement in September 2019 with lawyer Kyle Roche. Under the pact, the firm granted Rocke 1% of the supply of AVAX tokens, in addition to a similar amount of equity, in exchange for targeting its rival in the crypto industry.
A series of covertly recorded videos, with no attribution, were posted by the platform that showed Roche detailing his relationship with Ava Labs’ top execs. While revealing that he was the first person after VC firm Andreesen Horowitz to receive Ava Labs’ equity, Roche said:
“We did a deal where I agreed to provide legal services in exchange for a certain percentage of the token supply.”
The pack was meant to steer the regulator’s attention away from Avalanche by bringing targetting other players. As per one of the videos publicly posted by Crypto Leaks, Roche was heard saying that he thinks “litigation is an underused tool by everyone.”
He also describes himself as Ava Labs’ in-house crypto expert even as his LinkedIn profile mentions no connection with the company or the Avalanche project. Roche also claims Ava Labs has not been embroiled in any legal disputes because he has made sure the SEC has “other magnets to go after.”
Kyle Roche’s Response
After the reports blew up, Roche posted a response to address what he claims to be “unsourced false statements and illegally obtained, highly edited video clips that are not presented with accurate context.”
Deeming the statements in the video false, the trial attorney said that the clips were obtained through deceptive means, including a deliberate scheme to intoxicate and then exploit him, using leading questions.
“We vigorously deny any allegations of impropriety. Our work with Ava Labs is focused on defense side cases typical of any large corporation. Ava Labs has had no input, control, or insight into any of our firm’s plaintiff-side class action cases and we have never filed a class action on their behalf or at their request.”
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