SEC Proposes $10 Million Rainberry Settlement on Wash Trading Claims, Dismissing All Claims Against Justin Sun and Others
On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in Litigation Release No. 26496 that, as part of a global resolution, it had filed a proposed settlement of its wash trading claims against Rainberry, Inc.: Rainberry would pay a $10 million civil penalty, and the SEC's remaining claims against Rainberry and all of its claims against the other defendants, including Justin Sun, would be dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought again. The settlement is subject to court approval.
The case is before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York, under docket No. 1:23-cv-02433; the SEC filed its complaint in March 2023 and amended it in April 2024. The complaint alleged that in 2018 and 2019 Rainberry facilitated wash trading to artificially inflate the trading volume of the crypto asset TRX. Wash trading generally refers to trades that occur without a change in beneficial ownership, creating a false perception of market activity.
Under the proposed final judgment, Rainberry, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations as to the settled claim, consented to be permanently enjoined from violating Section 17(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 and to pay a civil penalty of $10 million. The other defendants are Tron Foundation Limited and BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., together with Rainberry the 'Tron Defendants.' The SEC also filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of its Section 17(b) claim against DeAndre Cortez Way, stating that the decision was an exercise of its discretion and does not necessarily reflect its position on any other case.
The $10 million penalty would be paid by Rainberry, Inc., not by Justin Sun personally; all claims against Sun himself were dismissed.
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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