Lawsuit Against Israeli Crypto Entrepreneur Moshe Hegog Fails in US Court

Israeli businessman Moshe Hegog was victorious in court last Friday when a U.S. judge dismissed a case brought by an investor who bought tokens for his predictions platform Stox.

Hogeg and STX Technologies (Stox) were sued in late 2019 by Seattle-based investor Sean Snyder, who had bought STX tokens on the platform to make predictions but later sold them at a loss of nearly $500,000.

Snyder had alleged in his complaint that he had bought the tokens based on statements by the defendants and that they were responsible for his losses. The suit accused Hogeg and Stox of fraud, making misleading claims and breach of contract.

However, Snyder failed to bring a case that backed up his allegations to the satisfaction of the Washington Western District Court at Tacoma. The plaintiff's proposed second amended complaint "fails to identify the 'time, place and substance' of the alleged fraudulent or misleading assertions that are the basis for his claims," wrote District Judge Robert J. Bryan in his motion to dismiss. "It contains vague assertions and conclusory statements of law. It is not sufficient."

The proposed amended complaint also undermined Snyder's own case because it said he had bought the STX tokens from a third party, not from the defendants. As such, his claim to file a further complaint was denied as "futile."

The case has now been dismissed, with Judge Bryan saying: "The Plaintiff has now been given three opportunities to file a complaint that states a claim on which relief could be granted. He has once again failed. It has become 'clear that the deficiencies of the complaint could not be cured by amendment.'"

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In early 2019, Hegog and Stox were also facing a lawsuit in Tel Aviv from a Chinese investor who alleged Hogeg had misappropriated some of the crypto millions invested in the firm. He was later given two months to settle the dispute.

Hegog is CEO of the blockchain smartphone startup Sirin Labs, which also faced a lawsuit last summer over allegedly unpaid bills for the "Finney" phone's manufacturing.