Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer has reportedly won a defamation lawsuit against a cryptocurrency influencer and awarded him $3 million in damages.
The lawsuit stems from cryptocurrency influencer Emre Aksoy's claim in a February 2021 YouTube video linking Sirer to an Islamist group the Turkish government has dubbed the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Askoy told his large YouTube followers that Sirer was part of the group, instructing them to short Avalanche token. According to Sirer, the slander cost him millions of dollars and sent the price of AVAX plummeting at the time. The token fell 57% from a High of $ 55.51 on Feb. 11, 2021, to end the Month at $ 23.85. Aksoy was described as a "marketing spiecialist" hired to promote products that completing with Ava L L ABS, The Lawsuit Said. ON April 28, USDrict Judge Beth BLOOM SAID Sirer was entitled to $750,000 in general damages for reputational damages, Law360 reported. Sirer's previous testimony "sufficiently demonstrates that his reputation has been considerably damaged, among other things," the judge said.
The judge wrote: "[The] plaintiff experienced anxiety and fear during his frequent trips to Turkey because he had a reason to fear that he would be arrested and detained by Turkish authorities upon entry due to the defender's claim that he was a member of FETÖ "
Bloom also awarded Sirer $300,000 in "special damages to compensate him for increased security costs" and $2 million in punitive damages "to deter the defender from committing the malicious act." Ava Labs is the company behind the Avalanche network, a layer 1 smart contr act platform.
Speaking at a blockchain conference on Roosevelt Island in New York City last week, Sirer commented that the industry cannot consider itself mature until regulators can read and audit the code. His comments come amid a broader cryptocurrency crackdown in the US, with regulators taking enforcement action on everything from staking to stablecoins.
