DLA Piper secures litigation win for Curve DeFi developer Michael Egorov

DLA Piper’s Blockchain & Digital Assets litigation team secured a significant victory for Curve DeFi protocol founder Michael Egorov.

The lawsuit arose out of an investment agreement between a number of investors around the globe, Egorov, and his company Swiss Stake. Investors were to receive equity in Swiss Stake as well as amounts of a token called CRV.

Egorov and Swiss Stake ultimately terminated the agreement and began returning the investments, but three of the investors rejected the refund, initially filing suit against Egorov and Swiss Stake for breach of contract in Switzerland. These investors subsequently filed related tort claims in San Francisco Superior Court.

The DLA Piper team filed a motion to quash for lack of personal jurisdiction. On September 6th, roughly a year into litigation, the motion was granted by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer. The court agreed with arguments that the parties had selected Switzerland as the project’s base of operations and California did not have personal jurisdiction over Egorov.

The DLA Piper team was led by Michael Fluhr (San Francisco) and included Matt Miller (San Francisco); of counsel Kathy Kizer (San Francisco); and associates Sean Newland (Phoenix) and Eric Hall (Los Angeles).

DLA Piper’s Blockchain & Digital Assets practice routinely advises some of the most well-known players in the industry and has been ranked “Tier 1” by the Legal 500 in the “Crypto” category and is also ranked in Chambers Fintech. More information on our practice can be found at: Blockchain and Digital Assets | DLA Piper. Sign up for our monthly Blockchain & Digital Assets publication here.